The Legend of Korra - The Story of Larik
by TheBlindSamurai
Summary: What would happen if Korra did not leave the Southern Water Tribe Compound alone? What would happen if she left with someone who will eventually become a guardian, protector and ultimately, a friend? This is not only the story of Korra, this is also the story of Larik.
1. Chapter 1- Beginnings

. . .

Darkness...

That is all I can see, all that I can feel.

From the edge of my sight, there is only darkness that surrounds me.

It is quite relaxing actually, when you think about it.

And it's quiet and peaceful.

I am so very, very tired. I don't even know why.

I could just close my eyes and drift away to a nice long sleep...

But the cold, it is freezing. I don't know why but it feels like my body is turning to ice.

Still, if I focus long enough I can just ignore the cold and finally rest...

Well I would if I could stop this itch on my god damn face, that is.

It's not just on my face. A little nudge here, a little nudge there.

I swear to the spirits right now that I will kill whoever is doing this to me.

I am so tired. Just let me rest. Just let me sleep...

. . .

" HOOOOWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLL!"

A male, near the end of his teenage years, sat up suddenly from laying sprawled on the ground, covered in ice and snow, but even through all of the snow it was as clear as day the level of confusion that radiated from the teenage boy.

His short brown hair turned back and forth blindly as his sharp hazel eyes tried to take in his surroundings, a rising sense of panic threatening to overwhelm him as he looked around at his surroundings, seeing only a blizzard among the desolate landscape of snow.

It was like this until he noticed a pair of peculiar, large yellows eyes staring deep into his own.

. . .

Larik knew danger when he saw it and these pair of bright eyes was practically screaming danger at him.

However there was a sense of familiarity with this creature as well. Something that made him feel like he could place his life on the line and this creature would stand beside him.

It was then that the moonlight reflected on the animal's fur, revealing him as if by magic. It was also then that Larik knew why he could trust this beast as his eyes sparkled from sudden realisation.

"Bipin..." he croaked, his deep voice tinged with disbelief.

The black wolf in front of him barked in return, confirming Larik's suspicions.

"It is good to finally see something familiar out here boy." Larik whispered whilst scratching his pet predator's ear.

Larik then stood up as far as his medium height would allow him, staring off into the desolate blizzard, and his eyes narrowed.

" I guess boy, that the real question that needs answering here is where in spirits name are we?"


	2. Chapter 2- An Unexpected Encounter

"Ugh..." Larik suddenly grimaced, kneeling down from a sudden dose of pain.

"Why I am here and better yet why do I feel like my insides are burning?" he raggedly cried.

Releasing his arms, Larik noticed several dark red smudges on the tips of his fingers, glancing down to the right side of his stomach; he noticed an increasingly large pool of blood swelling on the inside of his dark top.

"Oh, that's why."

Out of the corner of his eye, Larik noticed a particular object. It was a large, black bag with a small round orb jutting out of it.  
Crawling his way to the items, Larik grabbed the bag and pulled out the mysterious object into the night air. It was a Jian sword. A blade in a wondrously carved wooden sheath, detailed with the symbols and depictions of all of the four elements. The blade and hilt was made from silver like material that seemed to shine in the moonlight.

Larik stared in wonder as he stared at his reflection.

"What are you, what secrets are you hiding from me?" Bipin moved his head and gave an almost curious sounding woof.

"Don't worry Bipin, just muttering to myself."

Before Larik could inquire inside the bag any further, Bipin made a predatory growl towards the surroundings and instantly assumed a stance ready to pounce on any threats.

"Put the sword down!" an unknown voice cried.

It was then that Larik noticed the multiple figures standing in a half circle around them.

 _Who are these guys?_

One of the figures stepped forward from the cover of the continuous storm.

"Stranger, in the name of the protection of the Avatar, you shall drop the sword and surrender into our custody or we shall use force!" he bellowed.

Larik, though the blizzard stopped him from fully seeing the figures, could now tell from their whitish grey and blue clothing that they were members of the White Lotus.

 _White Lotus! Where did they come from?_

"There is no need for such hostility my friends, I am sure that we, as reasonable men, can talk without the need for violence looming in the back of our minds, I can expla-"

"You will get on your knees right now or we will attack you!" another one of the figures cut off.

Larik gritted his teeth in frustration.

 _Goddamn it fool I am trying to explain things here, well if I knew what I was actually doing here anyway._

It was at that point that one of the White Lotus members tried to circle behind them. Unfortunately for him, he had not paid any notice to the previously statue still pet wolf.

The wolf sprang into life, jumping towards the Lotus sentry and sinking his pearl white teeth into the arm of the unfortunate man. He screamed in agonised pain and the other sentries sprang to life, hurling both fire and water at Larik, who slid to the side, hands filled with sword and bag alike.

Larik flung himself over a large piece of snow, protecting him from the current barrage whilst he gathered his thoughts.

 _Damn it you arrogant idiots, this could have ended for the better, for all of us! Alright fine, I am outnumbered five to two, well four if Bipin had anything to say about it, not the best odds but do able._

It was then that Larik noticed the contents that were in his bag, the most notable being a strange book and small black pellets. But it was the pellets themselves that Larik took interest in, scooping up a handful of the small spheres and chucking them overhead and in the middle of the group of sentries.

The pellets soon released black smoke that rose high in the air, blinding them from Larik.

Whilst the sentries were dazed from the smoke, Larik saw several mounted polar bear dogs, standing aside from the White Lotus.

 _Perfect_ he thought.

Quietly, Larik ran as fast as his injury would allow him towards the mounts, whistling to Bipin to follow him as he did so.

Bipin, who was still dealing with the now wounded sentry, upon hearing the sound, leapt to his master's call and was soon by Larik's side as they reached one of the nearest mounts.

Before they could reach it however, a fire bending sentry jumped in front of them, sending flames towards his chest and face. Larik using his momentum twisted his body to the left before stretching his left leg and sweeping his opponent's feet from under him before finally striking the sentry with the hilt of his sword, knocking the sentry out cold.

With the smoke from his pellets fading and knowing that the rest of the White Lotus would soon be upon him, Larik sent Bipin to scare off the other mounts before sitting himself upon the one he had already acquired.

Just as the White Lotus sentries started to run towards him, Larik whistled Bipin to follow him just as he sent his mount into a mad run, with Bipin just on their heels, escaping from there would be capturers.

. . . FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

The blizzard had intensified greatly since Larik and Bipin had escaped from the sentries and the cold threatened to overcome them. Larik had worsened during the escape, his wound bleeding at almost epic proportions, until he could no longer hold on to the reins of his mount and he fell, hitting the floor hard and only to increase his pain.

Bipin tried to get him back on his feet but Larik had lost all his strength to continue moving and was fading into unconsciousness fast.

Before he succumbed to the darkness, he could have sworn that he saw his polar bear dog return to him, but instead of his mount's saddle being empty it had what appeared to be a teenage girl holding on to the reigns, black long hair swirling as she rode towards them.

His last thoughts were how strange it was that he didn't remember having a girl in the saddle with him when he escaped...


	3. Chapter 3- The Avatar

Korra was, needless to say, curious.

What started out as a rather traditional, though disallowed by her elders, ride with her friend and pet Naga soon took a turn for the worst when a harsh winter storm broke through the sky and cut the pair off from the path they came from due to the sheer intensity of the blizzard.

Korra, knowing how dangerous the situation was becoming, decided to head to the east where she knew she would find a cave, stockpiled with supplies to last up to a month if need be. The reason why Korra knew it was there was because of a similar event that had happened three winters ago.

It was whilst she was travelling to this particular cave that she nearly rode headfirst into another polar bear dog, though smaller than Naga it would have still been an ugly collision if Korra hadn't of swerved to the right, stopping soon after to look behind as the animal continued in its mad dash.

What was that about? She thought.

The only real thing that Korra could make from the animal was that it had a saddle on it. Yet it was empty from what the teenager could tell.

If there was a saddle on the bear dog then that would mean there was a rider, Korra quickly surmised.

But where is this rider?

Fearing the worst she sped forward, hoping to find some sign of the rider. She almost lost hope after 10 minutes of relentless riding when she caught a glimpse of movement to her right.

It was then that she saw him; she was surprised by how she was able to at first, miss him.

The brown haired individual was on the ground, obviously in pain from something that she could not see. What made the sight any more curious was the fact that, what appeared to be a black wolf of some kind trying to help the boy to stand up in any way it can.

 _Got you_ she thought.

She kicked Naga into a run as she could see the boy was losing consciousness.

"Come on girl faster, faster."

As she reached the pair, the wolf finally noticed the oncoming couple and immediately turned aggressive towards them, obviously fearing for its master's safety.

Korra quickly halted her run, jumping off from her saddle and outstretching her arms wide.

"I'm a friendly, little guy, don't worry. Just here to help your friend, that's all."

After a couple of minutes, the wolf eased itself to a more passive stance and returned to its master's side.

Good, I didn't get attacked at least.

Korra sighed with relief before bolting towards the body and the ever growing pool of blood coming from his side. She could clearly see that he needed healing, that much was obvious, but she unfortunately did not know the technique for it.

If this person has any chance, I need to get him to the cave; my supplies should include some medical stuff.

And that was what she did. After getting him onto the saddle of Naga she sped towards the cave as fast as she could, with the black furred wolf in tow.

That had happened **two** hours ago.

Korra, after stitching his wound up as best as she could, had helped him onto a makeshift bed, letting him rest from the experience. She would glance at him often, checking for anything that could cause trouble, but would always see the boy breathing softly in and out with his pet wolf lying down beside him, sleeping as well.

 _What happened to you two?_ Korra, not for the first time, wondered.

She had taken the time to study the stranger during one of her many fits of boredom, noting his pale skin, his short brown hair and his hazel coloured iris' during a particular dose of pain-induced delusion.

"Who are you?" Korra muttered to herself.

"That's a question that has been repeatedly asked for by multiple people, myself included." Replied a deep, booming voice.

Korra snapped her head to the previously prone body, finding instead a young male, sitting up and petting his 'friend' as Korra could see with a small, pain filled smile as the animal repeatedly licked his face. He abruptly stopped his show of affection and turned to face a surprised looking Korra.

"And you are?" the boy asked, inclining his head toward Korra.

It took a couple of seconds for Korra to begin to reply from the shock of seeing the boy awake.

 _How is he awake already? From the state of his injuries I would have thought that he would still be unconscious for at least another couple of hours._

 _"_ _Uh...Korra... my name is Korra." She finally replied, a mixture of emotions raging inside her._

 _Calm down Korra, you're the Avatar for pity's sake._

 _"_ _Wait, you don't know who you are?" Korra blurted out before she could stop herself._

 _"_ _Well not exactly." The stranger responded, piquing Korra's curiosity even further._

 _"_ _What do you mean 'not exactly'?"_

 _"_ _Well I know who I am, thankfully, and I know who my friend over here is as well. Unfortunately I don't remember anything before tonight. No names of people I know, no childhood memories, nothing."_

 _The tone of the boy's voice turned bitter towards the end of his statement. Before Korra could respond, the stranger quickly shook his head as if to shake out any negative feelings he had held and looked back at the Avatar with a friendly smile on his face._

 _"_ _Ah never mind me and my problems, it is a pleasure to meet you Korra, my name as far as I know is Larik." He said, outstretching his hand towards her._

 _Korra, with a growing smile on her face, shook it._

 _"_ _And this little friend of mind is Bipin." Larik continued, gesturing to the wolf as he spoke._

 _"_ _It's nice to meet you Bipin." Korra said her smile getting wider as the wolf in return barked at her, with what could only be described as a smile of his own on his face._

 _It was then that Larik seemed to fully notice his surroundings._

 _"_ _Where are we?" he asked._

 _"_ _Oh, well this is a cave that I had found a while back and decided to store supplies in it in case something like this snowstorm should happen." She explained._

 _"_ _Smart." He muttered, glancing around the dark and cold walls of the cave and staring at the snow that was striking down at an incredible pace._

 _Korra could not hold on to her curiosity any longer._

 _"_ _Why were you out there any way?" she practically begged._

 _"_ _I don't know, I'm amnesiac remember." He replied, with an amused grin on his face._

 _"_ _All I remember is that I woke up with this injury, got attacked by some White Lotus members, escaped and passed out."_

 _Korra stiffened._

 _White Lotus! Did this Larik guy do anything that made them attack him?_

 _"_ _Err did they say why they were attacking you?" she asked, caution seeping into her words to try to avoid any suspicion._

 _Larik did not seem to notice, his deep voice echoing around the hall as he spoke._

 _"_ _No. They just started to attack me after a ...unfortunate misunderstanding."_

 _His hazel coloured eyes narrowed as he suddenly seemed to consider an unknown factor._

 _"_ _They did say something about the Avatar though." He said each word slow from thought._

 _Korra's eyes widened from realisation._

 _They attacked him because they were looking for me. They thought he had done something to me!_

 _Larik noticed the change in Korra's expression immediately, absently holding the hilt of his sword which had been laid nearby in sudden suspicion._

 _"_ _You know something don't you?" he accused, his once friendly and warmth filled eyes replaced with coldness and hostility._

 _It was then that he noticed the fire that was alight in the middle of the cave with nothing to help make a fire in sight._

 _"_ _Did you make that fire?" he asked, surprising Korra from the change in topic._

 _"_ _Um... yes."_

 _"_ _Which means you can fire bend?"_

 _"_ _That's right... why do you ask?" she replied getting more and more nervous by the continuation of questioning._

 _"_ _Because the treatment to my wound is that of a water bender, a thoroughly unskilled healer I might add, but a water bender nonetheless."_

 _"_ _Which would mean that you're the..."_

 _His eyes widened in shock from the realisation._

 _"_ _Surprise." Korra interrupted a nervous smile present on her face from the rather awkward position they were in._

 _Oh boy, now this is gonna get interesting._


	4. Chapter 4- The Agreement

_Larik could quite honestly say that he was shocked._

 _To put it mildly._

 _It wasn't as if his day wasn't already interesting, far from it. He would have thought that waking up in the middle of a terrifying blizzard with no memory beforehand and then getting attacked by members of a formerly secret organisation whilst nearly dying from a wound that he received from spirits know where was all that one day could have thrown at him._

 _Which it did._

 _But it apparently had also sent a near god to save him._

 _Larik wasn't entirely sure whether he should be amazed by the sight of this rather attractive Avatar saving him from near death or a mixture of worry and annoyance about what else this god forsaken world could do to him in only one day._

 _His ever increasing thoughts of depression however were interrupted by a rather hesitant voice._

 _"_ _Um you alright there Larik?" Korra asked._

 _Larik shook his head as if to clear his thoughts before facing the Avatar._

 _"_ _Yeah just great." He said, sighing. "It's just been a very, long day."_

 _A thought suddenly occurred to him._

 _"_ _Why were_ _ **you**_ _out there, in that blizzard, anyway?" The amnesiac inquired._

 _"_ _Why do you ask, last I checked it wasn't any of your business?" Korra replied with a slight frown, her concern quickly turning into self-righteous defensiveness._

 _Larik quickly held his hands up in a submissive gesture, a smirk on his face, amused by how quick it was to annoy the Avatar._

 _Ah so she's that type of girl then_ _, he thought,_ _with that apparent short temper of hers and the fact that she is the Avatar, it is quite the combination._

 _"_ _Whoa there, steady down I was merely curious, no need to bite my head off." He responded, his smirk still on his face._

 _"_ _Oh... sorry, just tired, I did have to take care of you for a couple of hours which was pretty stressful."Korra replied, causing Larik to laugh._

 _"_ _Ha I bet."_

 _A silence soon enveloped them, a comfortable sense of contentment of simply being in each other's company, both staring out at the entrance of the cave and the storm that was raging on in the dark night._

 _It was, to Larik's surprise, the Avatar who then broke the silence that surrounded them._

 _"_ _I left the compound that I was supposed to train in, with the white Lotus watching over me and they tried to follow me but instead found you." She said gently, her voice nothing more than a whisper in the air._

 _Larik took a deep breath, processing the revelation from the Avatar._

 _"_ _I thought just as much, when I realised who you were I figured that was the reason those men were out there." He responded._

 _Korra sharply looked at him, surprise obvious on her face._

 _"_ _You aren't mad? They attacked you because I selfishly left to have some space from them. You could have been hurt or –"_

 _Korra was then sharply pulled to her side; her rant cut off in mid-flight, and looked up directly in front of Larik's hazel coloured eyes, which had a warm smile on his face._

 _He spoke slowly "This was not your fault Korra; you could not have known about what was to happen. If I was in those White Lotus' shoes I would've come to the same conclusion as they did."_

 _He let go of her shoulders, standing up and walking closer to the fire, his face a neutral mask that Korra could not peer through._

 _"_ _You saved my life Korra" His deep voice echoing across the cave, a strange mixture of gentleness and determination masking it._

 _"_ _I am indebted to you Korra, and if I know anything about the type of man I am it is that I always repay my debts. Always." He turned back towards her, a smile once again returning to his once steel like face and slowly approached her._

 _"_ _From this moment onward I shall pledge myself in protecting you and guiding you when you need me. Till the time that you are satisfied with what I have done and released me from my oath or death take me."_

 _He stopped just in front of Korra, who was now standing upright with a curious expression on her face, and held out his hand towards her._

 _"_ _The question that still needs to be answered Korra is whether or not you accept this agreement."_

 _He waited for several moments which had felt like lifetimes to see Korra staring at him, a small smile slowly etching itself on her face, before her hand slowly reached out towards him and clasped his hand firmly within her own._


	5. Chapter 5- Convincing The White Lotus

_They had reached it._

 _They had finally reached it._

 _When the two teenagers had set out in the morning he did have his doubts on whether they were going to reach the compound but it seemed like Korra's sense of direction was had pulled through for them._

 _Larik reminisced on last night's events and how it had surprisingly turned out for the best._

 _After he and Korra had agreed to their pact, they had sat down together and talked about their past memories, or in Larik's case, what happened to him last night. They also had a look at several of the items which was in his bag._

 _One of which he was reading now._

 _It was a book, a very detailed book at that. The cover of the book was a dark brown, battered but still sturdy, with the four symbols of the elements on the front._

 _If that hadn't of piqued his curiosity, the contents of the book certainly did._

 _The inside of the book contained detailed descriptions of numerous and most likely lethal techniques of training. This included the art of archery and swordsmanship as well as techniques that would be used by benders such as water, earth, fire and even air._

 _Larik was in the middle of reading the technique used for fire bending when he had been interrupted by the Avatar._

 _"_ _We're here." She said._

 _They had been riding Naga together with Bipin running aside them when they had finally reached the great doors of the compound._

 _As the doors opened to allow the two to enter, Larik breathed in deeply knowing what was to come._

 _"_ _You know what they are going to do to me at first." He whispered behind Korra's ears, simultaneously closing and putting away his book in his bag._

 _"_ _Yes but don't worry I'll handle it, just let me do the talking and we'll be fine." She whispered back to him._

 _"_ _That supposed to be encouraging?" He inquired, a small smile on his face, despite his nervousness._

 _As the two of them moved further into the compound and into its centre, it became painfully obvious that the Avatar's guardians would attempt to take Larik into custody as more members of the White Lotus came to surround the group as they marched ahead._

 _Larik soon noticed the small group of what appeared to be senior members of the Order looking ahead of the pair with obvious expressions of anger and disapproval._

 _Oh they are definitely not going to make this easy for me, that much is obvious._ _He thought, grimacing to himself at the prospect._

 _"_ _You alright back there Larik." Korra whispered, sensing the tension coming off her new-found friend._

 _"_ _Just thinking to myself how you weren't kidding with your masters being old, they look like they could be my long lost great grandfather." He replied, trying to release some of the tension from his body to relax as the two finally arrived in front of the masters and started to climb off Naga._

 _Showtime._

 _One of the masters, a white haired old man with more wrinkles than hair, decided it was time to end the silence of his peers after giving a look of pure contempt towards Larik._

 _This won't be good._

 _"_ _Avatar Korra It was utterly foolish of you to leave the way you did; you gave us and your parents a serious fright." He gestured his head towards a tall masculine man in blue clothing, indicating his water tribe heritage, with long dark hair similar to Korra and a goatee to finish the look._

 _He was too busy giving a look towards Larik of such hatred that would send all kinds of boys running for the hills if they came near his daughter to acknowledge the words of the old man._

 _This is definitely not good, that look alone could kill a man if he tried hard enough._ _Larik thought, gulping slightly under the pressure of the stare._

 _"_ _And now you have brought this stranger, with an injury caused by who knows what and whom had attacked and seriously injured several of the men that we sent to find you and keep you safe." He finished, with the rest of the masters muttering their agreements to his claims._

"I say we lock up this man up for attempted kidnap and the assault of some of our White Lotus brethren and then we can put that filthy mongrel down." Another master shouted with once again followed by the louder mutters of agreement.

 _"_ _Can you listen to what I have to say before you lock up my friend first?" Korra interjected before any other comments could be said._

 _"_ _I found this man on the ground, dying from his wounds after escaping from the extreme aggression of your guards and I had to help him!" She shouted, earning her silence from the White Lotus in front of her._

 _She's not half bad at this handling of things_ _Larik thought to himself._

 _"_ _He didn't try to kidnap me. For crying out loud, he can't remember anything much about him apart from his name and age. If he wanted to kidnap me then either I would have brought him back restrained or I wouldn't be able to come back at all!"_

 _Larik noted the shocked faces of the White Lotus from her outburst and the suddenly sympathetic facial expression from her father towards him._

 _"_ _Let him stay by his own free will, you can keep an eye on him if he causes any trouble and he has somewhere to stay whilst he recovers from his wounds." Korra concluded._

 _One of the masters attempted to argue their case further "But Avatar Korra can't you see that he is using you, how would you even know you can trust him?" He asked._

 _"_ _If I could interrupt this little debate of ours." Larik stated before Korra could comment, smiling and nodding to her to indicate he could manage on his own._

 _"_ _Whilst we had been gone for the night, due to Korra saving my life and that of my friend behind me." He gestured to Bipin before continuing. "I had sworn an oath to Korra that I would repay my debt to her by protecting her with my life until she releases me from my oath. And if there is one thing I know about me then it is that my word is iron. I would never betray her even if I tried." He finished his deep voice like thunder to their ears._

 _Korra quickly re-entered the conversation to continue to press the pressure they were building._

 _"_ _See he won't hurt me and we can keep an eye on him anyway. Isn't that enough for you lot" She asked._

 _The masters were flushed from shock at the pair of them, quickly trying to find a way to counter act the two of them._

 _"_ _I don't think we should–"_

 _"_ _I think it's a wonderful idea personally." A new voice interrupted, adding her to the conversation._

 _She was old but had a very kind and caring presence surrounding that simply made you feel like she could take care of your entire problems._

 _"_ _Lady Katara, I don't think that is a very good idea at this moment in time." One of the masters tried to protest._

 _"_ _Yet it is the perfect time to allow the possibility of such an idea my friend. The Avatar is growing up and soon she will need to go out into the real world with friends by her side to bring balance to the world." She replied._

 _"_ _Do I need to tell you how old Avatar Aang was when he defeated Fire Lord Ozai? I would know, I was there after all."_

 _Larik grinned despite himself._

 _Even with the amnesia I know how important this old lady is._

 _"_ _With Tonraq's blessing I believe he should stay and help train himself with the Avatar, if his desire to protect her is that great?" Katara said, staring at Larik as she spoke._

 _Larik could only nod his head as the excitement within him struggled to release itself._

 _This is happening. This is honestly happening._

 _The man known as Tonraq simply sighed before answering "If that is what you believe in Katara then you have my blessing." He said resolutely._

 _"_ _Good then it is decided. Now all you are dismissed, it's almost dinner time" Katara finished with a warm smile on her face before departing, the masters of the White Lotus following soon after._

 _Larik turned towards Korra to congratulate her but instead found himself in front of Tonraq, his face expressionless._

 _Then, slowly, he lifted his hand towards Larik to shake it before pulling him close when he accepted the handshake, his head near Larik's ear._

 _"_ _I will give you the benefit of the doubt but if you harm my daughter in any way, I will end you. Are we clear?" He whispered._

 _Larik only needed to a second to reply. "Understood and understandable." Before releasing the handshake and finding himself talking to Korra, who seemed oblivious to the short conversation between him and her father whilst following Tonraq to what he presumed to be their house._

 _"_ _That went better than I thought it would." She said, laughing as she did so._

 _"_ _I suppose it was, wasn't it." Larik replied, a small smile of his own starting to appear as well._

 _"_ _Don't worry about Dad; he'll grow towards you soon he's like that."_

 _"_ _We'll see about that Korra."_

 _"_ _Come on Larik, I need to introduce to my mum, she'll like you I can tell." She said before running ahead and from out of nowhere, threw a snowball towards her father, who then proceeded to chase after her._

 _"_ _Hurry up Larik; I need to introduce you to the rest of your new family." Korra shouted before continuing her sprint, chased by her frantic yet laughing father._

 _Despite it all Larik found himself comforted by the notion. It meant he had found somewhere he could belong to. He ran to catch up to the father and daughter combination, a small smile on his face as he had only one thought on his mind._

 _Family. You know, I think I might like that._


	6. Chapter 6- One Year Later

_Breathe in._

 _Breathe out._

 _In._

 _Out._

 _Fire._

 _The arrow flew across the air, with all of the silent grace an arrow could achieve before hitting the centre of a target square in the middle, with only a soft thump betraying the fact that it had only just arrived at its location._

 _Larik smiled to himself, happy to see that he was still maintaining his skills as an archer. He moved his arm to his sheath that he had slung on his back, reaching out and plucking a thin white arrow with a simple yet effective arrowhead and its black and blue feathers before aiming the arrow with his Yumi bow._

 _And ... release._

 _Another arrow flew and another arrow hit the centre. Larik looked at the bow with awe. It had been a full year since he had first met Korra and only four months since she had given the bow to him, a gift for some unknown reason that he could still not find the reasoning for._

 _Wasn't easy though, getting here he thought._

 _It took six whole months for Larik to fully gain the trust of the White Lotus but after he had taken initiative and helped stop a fire that had spread through the compound, the masters finally allowed him to carry his sword again as well as anything new that he wanted to pick up – such as the bow he was now using._

 _Larik, having tested his skills with the bow for more than two hours, finally decided to end his practice session, slinging his bow on his back and then retrieving the arrows that he used before turning his back to the large courtyard and walking back inside the compound where after a ten minute walk, he arrived at his room._

 _The room itself was small with only enough room for his bed and a medium sized desk to fit inside comfortably. This had not deterred him however as he had placed a mirror on the wall in front of his desk and had put up a crude plank on the wall to place his sword on._

 _Larik quickly lit up the lamp that he had in his room before inspecting himself in front of the mirror. He had over the year changed his clothing to, in his own words 'start afresh' from his mystery of a past life. He now wore a near black outer top, similar to that of an air bending monk, which only covered him from his left shoulder to his waist with a short sleeve attached to his left arm and bandages wrapped round his left hand. Underneath this he had a plain black sleeveless top, to cover the rest of his body and a long armband which stretched to just under his right shoulder to his hand. He had finished the look with a simple pair of dark blue trousers._

 _Still got it he thought with a smile, as he noticed the muscles on his arm._

 _Over the course of the year, Larik had been allowed to keep his book and so he decided to train himself in the martial arts detailed inside it, used for non-benders and benders alike. This had lead to his body gaining extra weight from the muscles he gained from practicing these techniques daily, with most of them even coming back to him instinctively._

 _Looking sleek, but not too much muscle to hinder my speed... perfect._

 _A loud dong broke the silence Larik had surrounded himself in; vibrating threw the building like a tidal wave. The noise continued until it had reached its twelfth dong before falling silent._

 _What was that about? Larik wondered, before he made a sudden realization about how special the day was for a particular friend of his._

 _Korra! It's her final fire bending test for her to be officially called a master._

 _Larik, in his sudden sense of panic, ran out of his room and ran for the main sparring courtyard, hoping he would not be late._

 _C'mon Korra, you've got this... just don't finish the test before I get to cheer you on. After all, it is your big day._


	7. Chapter 7- The Fire Bending Exam

Korra stood as still as a statue, waiting for her opponents to make their move. There were three of them, one in front and two behind, to help simulate a possible real life battle, her 'opponents' for her test.

 _More like punching bags when I'm done with them she thought._

This was Korra's final test for her to officially become a fire bending master and she wasn't going to take any chances.

How long does it take for them to stop staring at me as if I was a ten foot tall evil spirit and start attacking me she whined to herself.

There was one advantage however to their stalling as she was waiting for a particular man to make an appearance at her exam.

If he bothered to remember, that is.

 _I am going to kill him! He forgets every single time._

A sudden rush of movement turned Korra's attention to her right side as the man in question ran into the open courtyard.

 _It's about time Larik._

Larik, noting how everyone was staring at him due to his sudden dramatic entrance, took upon a nervous smile as he moved to the side of the main building that the open courtyard was in front of.

 _Oh I messed up again, didn't I?_ He sarcastically thought, already knowing the answer.

He leaned upon the pillar that he had arrived next to, whilst curiously noticing how every one of Korra's masters were watching what was about to take place.

 _They really are taking this test of hers seriously._

He turned his head towards the combatants, as well as the obviously annoyed Avatar that was openly angry with him being late. Korra moved her left hand and started tapping it on her right hand, showing Larik how she was wondering what took him so long.

Larik in return, simply shrugged his shoulders before suddenly gesturing his head towards what was behind Korra, panic on his face.

Korra however did not understand what he was gesturing to, with only one thought in her mind at what he could possibly be looking at.

 _What is he looking at? The only thing behind me is my opponent and nothing el-_

Realisation suddenly shook through Korra, as she turned around and was just barely able to stop a surprise fire bending attack on her by splitting the fire in two with her own hands.

 _You sneaky little..._

She let the end of her rather soon-to-be-rude thought go as she retaliated from the attack by kicking multiple balls of fire whilst jumping in mid-air towards the attacking fire bender, knocking him a couple of feet back on the ground, before quickly turning her attention back to her other opponents whom proceeded to attack her simultaneously.

Korra however, stopped the attacks by dissipating the fire in a wide circle with her hands, a cocky smile on her face whilst during so, earning her a smile from Larik at the expression.

 _Cocky as ever Korra..._

The two fire benders then attempted to press on their attacks, running towards her as they fire bended. Korra quickly dodged their attacks again with herself running forward as well, hoping to intercept one of them.

The fire bender, seeing what she was doing, tried to jump high to avoid her interception in the air whilst continuing his attack with sharp kicking movements.

Korra quickly spun around whilst still moving forward, before hitting the in the air fire bender with her foot, causing him to lose control and roll onto the ground.

The other fire bender soon attacked her from the front whilst the one that she had crashed attempted to run at her with as Korra was busy deflecting the first fire benders attacks.

Korra quickly kicked back the fire bender from behind, putting him on the floor as she quickly counter attacked the first fire bender with powerful fire bending strikes of her own, successfully disabling him.

As the two fire benders attempted to attack her again, Korra simultaneously hit both of them with her fire bending, diverting between the two with as much grace as she could muster, and successfully taking out the two of them, with one landing on the top of the roof.

Whilst all of this was happening, Larik whistled with awe, no words coming out at what he believed was quite the spectacle.

 _Damn, sometimes I forget how powerful she is_ he thought to himself.

"Still needs to work on that short temper of hers though." He muttered, before turning his gaze back towards the fight.

Whilst Larik was contemplating Korra's strength, the White Lotus member that had first tried to attack her was the only opponent left, desperately trying to her hold back the Avatar with his attacks, with Korra running literally right through them as if she was a mad woman, disappearing momentarily from sight as the flames seemingly engulfed her.

She soon reappeared however dodging the last of the man's attacks before leaping over him and delivering a devastating cone of fire towards him, knocking him to the ground and finally finishing the short but intense match.

Korra upon checking that all of her opponents were defeated took off the helmet that she had been wearing and ran towards the masters, excitement washing over her face and whooping in the air as she did so.

"Hey, why all the doom and gloom people? We should be celebrating! Three elements down one to go." Korra exclaimed.

Larik watched on, eager to hear what the masters would say.

 _That would definitely be something that Korra would say after she had just beaten her test, wouldn't it?_ He thought to himself, rolling his eyes in the process.

Larik pushed his thoughts aside, focusing instead on what the White Lotus had to say.

"You're getting ahead of yourself as usual, Korra. We haven't decided if you passed your fire bending test yet." One of the masters proclaimed, her fire bending teacher if the red coloured robes indicated anything.

Another White Lotus master continued what his colleague had started with a rant of his own. "Ever since you were a little girl, you've excelled at the physical side of bending, but completely ignored the spiritual side. The Avatar must master both."

Spirits, they are not making this easy on Korra are they?

Korra bows her head slightly, in an attempt to show her understanding of the situation "I haven't ignored it; it just doesn't come as easy to me. But that's why I should start training with Tenzin immediately. He's Mister Spiritual."

Larik chuckles at the comment that Korra had made, finding her way of negotiating amusing.

 _Well that's one way of attempting to convince them Korra..._

The same Elder that had spoken to Korra soon took his attention to Katara and decided to address the matter. "Do you believe she's ready, Master Katara?" he asked.

 _This is it,_ both Larik and Korra thought, _if she says no then it's over._

However, both Korra and Larik's thoughts were proven untrue by Katara's next words "Yes. If anyone can teach her what she needs to learn, it's Tenzin."

"Very well, Korra. It's time for you to begin your air bending training."

Korra's face lit up instantly upon hearing the words. "Yes! Finally!" She exclaimed, before taking a more serious expression when she saw her master's faces. "I mean, thank you all for believing in me."

Before Larik could go and congratulate Korra, he sees her running off down to where the stables were meant to be.

"Korra wait!" He shouts whilst running behind her trying to catch up.

Korra was holding the head of her pet Naga in her hands, having just arrived at the stables, when she heard someone else arrive not too soon after herself.

"It just always has to be Naga you talk to first, isn't it?"

Irritation briefly passed through her, fully knowing who this person could be.

"What is it with you and being late to some of the most important times of my life?" She asked, slowly looking back to see Larik standing in front of her, just as she predicted.

"You know me Korra; I just can't help myself from making a dramatic entrance and stealing your thunder." He replied a bright smile on his face as the two of them had talked through these types of conversations before.

Korra could only laugh and shake her head slowly at his answer.

"Now come over here and give me a hug please." Larik continued, his smile still on his face and his arms outstretched, to which Korra complied running to him and jumping into his arms.

Over the course of the year, the two teenagers became more and more inseparable, with one always at the side of the other, and their friendship grew until they had practically become brother and sister to each other, which they display openly with these shows of affection.

 _Larik finally put Korra down after the two of them were laughing at their childishness. "Well done Korra, I told you that you could do it." He said._

 _"_ _It helps that you gave me some pointers that helped my progress." She replied not willing to take all the credit._

 _"_ _Yet it was you that put it into motion. Trust me Korra, this was all you." He countered._

 _"_ _Well if you insist Larik but either way I only have one more bending to master and then I am 100% Avatar."_

 _"_ _Exactly Korra what's the worst that could happen?"_

 _"_ _Take deep breaths Korra your about to talk to your next master and your having a heart attack!" Larik whispered, trying to hide his urgency with a plastic smile._

 _"_ _I know I know, just breathe Korra. Breathe." She muttered to herself, a smile of her own on her face._

 _It had been a couple of days since her test and she was about to meet her new master that she knew all so well._

 _Master Tenzin had quite the heritage, having been one of the children of Avatar Aang and Katara and being one of the only air benders left in the world. He was quite a tall man, bald with the only hair being in the form of a large beard and with the arrow tattoos on his head and body that marked him as an air bending master._

 _When he did noticed Korra and Larik after speaking to his mother Katara he smiled. "_ Korra?" he asked, with Korra running up to him and hugging him, Larik just behind her and offering a handshake in greeting, to which Tenzin accepted. "Look at you, so big and strong. You've grown into quite the young Avatar." He then turned to Larik and spoke "And this must be the infamous amnesiac that I have heard so much about, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person Larik."

"It's nice to meet you too Master Tenzin, I hope we can get to know each other more as you begin Korra's training." Larik replied with a smile on his face.

Tenzin's smile however, faltered and he soon looked down to the ground, his face now solemn.

"Yes, well ..." he started.

His wife, Pema if Larik had heard correctly, soon spoke after him. "You're going to have to tell her sooner or later." She said.

 _Ok what's going on here? Would someone please be so kind as to explain to us what is going on?_

"Tell me what?" Korra asked knowing something was amiss.

It was Katara however that spoke what the husband and wife had been trying to say. "You're not staying, are you?" She asked, more as a statement than as a question.

Tenzin simply sighed before speaking. "I'm afraid not. We're only visiting for the night. Then I have to return to Republic City."

Korra disappointed and confused, tried to speak some coherent thought. "But ... No, you're supposed to move here. You're supposed to teach me." She said, her eyes pleading with him to reconsider.

"I'm sorry, Korra. Your air bending training is going to have to wait."

Larik had only one thought at that moment.

 _Well, this sucks._


	8. Chapter 8- Into The Darkness

It was in the middle of the night when Larik finally decided to take Bipin for his traditional night time walk, his thoughts still bleak as he and Bipin walked around the inside of the compound, Bipin occasionally running ahead in his excitement.

It had been three days since Tenzin and his family left for Republic city and the sadness that had arisen when they had arrived was still palpable. Korra had been unusually quiet over the days following the air benders departure and though he would be there for her if she needed someone to talk to, he also knew that she would prefer to be by herself at this moment in time.

If Larik had learnt anything about Korra over the year it was that she definitely liked her alone time.

A nudge and a quiet woof from Bipin stopped Larik in both his thoughts and movements, with him looking down at his close friend with both a raised eyebrow and a confused stare on his face.

"What is it boy, smelt something in the air?" he asked, wondering not for the first time if Bipin had just caught the scent of a new recruit of the White Lotus.

Bipin, with what could only be described as a wolf's version of a roll of the eyes, nudged him again on his left and started to move towards the left side. Larik, confused at what the wolf was doing looks up and notices not only the pens, but more importantly, a light inside it with what could only be a pair of shadows inside.

 _What's going on here then?_

Before he could move any further towards the light, Larik notices one of the shadows exiting the entrance, what appeared to be the combination of both a small shadow and a much bigger and more muscular in build.

Larik quickly ducked behind a couple of nearby crates, Bipin by his side to avoid notice.

 _Well this isn't normal to say the least._

What Larik saw next was quite frankly a shock as a familiar ponytailed Avatar with no proper grasp of stealth, lead her Polar bear dog away into the night.

 _What the hell is Korra doing?_

The human–wolf pair runs toward the stables, hoping to find any leads on where Korra could possibly be going, only to be stopped by the ever sage like voice of Katara.

"She is leaving." She whispers, her ever present smile still on her face before quickly directing her attention to Larik.

"I think you better pack your things my boy, I doubt you will be staying hear any longer."

With realisation slamming into his face as to where she may be going, Larik runs back towards his room with Bipin beside him, a multitude of thoughts ravaging his mind.

 _Why couldn't you have given me a heads up Korra?_

It was dark to say the least.

She shouldn't have been surprised really, after all she was stowing away inside the belly of the beast that is the ship.

However that didn't stop her from thinking how anticlimactic it was.

 _Don't beat yourself up Korra; soon you'll be in Republic city for pity's sake._

Korra was staring up at the ceiling, her hands resting behind her neck, as she was sprawled on top of Naga, content with what had happened and what _will_ happen in the foreseeable future.

"It's a shame Larik isn't coming with us, hey girl. Hopefully he will understand why I didn't bring him with us." She whispered, to no one in particular as her words echoed around her inside the underbelly of the ship.

"No I don't understand." An all too familiar voice replied, causing Korra to sit up sharply in surprise. "Not one bit."

A pair of shadows emerged from behind several crates slightly ahead of Korra, before being revealed by one of the faint lights on the ceiling as the two people that Korra desperately not wanted to see.

"Uh... hey Larik, I see you brought Bipin with you..." Korra replied a nervous smile on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck, before noticing the amount of items that Larik had with him.

"... And everything that you own."

Larik merely raised his left eyebrow on his otherwise unamused face.

"Really, that's the first thing you say to me after you tried to ditch me back at the compound?"

"Yeah... sorry 'bout that." She replied, her face showing a mixture of embarrassment and shame at the prospect.

Larik's face however, originally showing a cold and angry expression towards her, softened as he slowly breathed out a sigh before sitting down cross-legged beside Korra, with Bipin curling up on his left side.

"Why did you leave me back there Korra?" He asked exasperatedly. "You know I would have been more than willing to follow you to Republic city if you had asked."

"I don't know honestly, I just thought that as the Avatar I should be able to go on my journey by myself and not needing anyone else's help."

Larik took a moment to study Korra's facial expression before finally speaking.

"If I recall didn't Avatar Aang, at the very beginning of his quest to defeat the fire nation, need the helping hand of the siblings Katara and Sokka, to help him on his way."

Korra not knowing what to say so as to counter his remark, simply stared back towards Larik's face, which had regained a small smile on his face that radiated confidence.

"Even the very best Avatars need someone to keep an eye on their backs. Besides I swore an oath remember so you're stuck with me whether you like it or not." He concluded.

Korra took a single moment, which could have been merely a couple of seconds, to fully acknowledge Larik's thoughts before finally answering, with a smirk of her own on her face.

"Looks like I am aren't I."

"Yes you are my dear, yes you are." He replied, his smile turning into a smirk of his own.

Korra, from out of nowhere, suddenly let out a very large yawn, causing Larik to stifle a laugh.

"I suppose we should get some rest, we've got a long day ahead tomorrow." He decided, with Korra nodding her agreement, suddenly too tired to bother speaking.

Before she became enveloped by the fluffy pillow that was Naga and entering the world of dreams, she could only think about how she was glad to have someone guide her on her journey.


	9. Chapter 9- Republic City

_Light._

 _Uh why is there light here?_

 _Can't it just leave me alone for another five minutes?_

 _. . . ._

 _Guess not... damn it._

Larik, opening his eyes from his interrupted sleep, silently rose up from the ground and started to stretch his muscles from the somewhat uncomfortable sleeping arrangements he and Korra had made for themselves.

He soon realised after he had finished loosening his muscles that the light that had disturbed him from his slumber was that of the suns.

 _Of course even Mother Nature doesn't want me getting any good night's rest._

Before he could contemplate how life kept him and his beloved sleep apart any further, he was distracted by a loud yawn that came from his now awakened friend.

"You seemed to have had a good night's sleep I see." He remarked, amused by Korra's rather boyish awakening, as well as the notion that she had absolutely no shame about it.

"What and you didn't?" she shot back, a smile of her own on her face.

"Real funny that joke there, I almost laughed from it."

"It wasn't meant to be."

"Shut up and get your butt moving, we need to get out of here."

Both smirking, they quickly got everything they had, which in reality only Larik did as Korra decided for some reason not to bring anything with her, and set off from the ship whilst passing many of the ship's crew, who were bewildered by the strange pair and their tastes in pets.

"Where to first Korra?" Larik asked, wondering whether she had thought this far ahead.

 _Probably not, knowing Korra._

"I think we need to find something to eat first and then go to air temple island." She replied.

"You didn't bring any food! Korra what were you thinking?" he cried, disbelief clear both in his voice and face.

"Don't worry I can just get some off of this seller." Korra shot back in his direction before jumping off of Naga and jogging over to the clerk, leaving Larik having to hold on to all of his items and holding the reins of Naga whilst he waited.

Whilst Korra was gone however, it did allow Larik to soak in the sights that Republic city had to offer. He watched multiple Satomobiles zoom past him with frightening speed as the air from the machines kept knocking him back several steps and how the police department's air ships were just as high as the tallest skyscrapers, as if their tips were ripping the blue sky apart.

 _Republic city. Huh looks like it is as good as people say._

"I'm back."

Startled, Larik was so busy soaking in the sights that he didn't register Korra's reappearing body.

"Where's the food?" he inquired, noting the empty hands of Korra.

"I might have forgotten to bring any money with me..." Korra answered an awkward smile on her face.

Larik meanwhile, merely face palmed as he thought thoughts that may have been in hindsight quite aggressive.

"I wonder about you sometimes Korra..." He finally answered, finishing his sentence with silent mutterings to himself.

"Oh don't worry Larik, I'm the Avatar and your my trusty bodyguard, we'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?"

"You know, I hate it when you don't think of a plan and instead just rush in like it's a race to the finishing line."

"Thank you Larik for explaining how much you hate me right now for the 100th time."

"Good I'm glad my point is finally being noted."

Korra and Larik were desperate.

They had gone through most of the day and they had found nothing to eat.

Now however, after having to deal with an apparent mob of anti-bending citizens in the local park, barely leaving before a full on riot started, and they were both back at square one.

They were currently both on Naga's back as they continued to search for some kind of food, with Bipin following closely behind.

 _Just perfect, I am slowly starving to death, what a great start to my first day in Republic city._ Larik bitterly thought.

As they passed a nearby street, they quickly heard shouts originating from a local shop and soon started to make their way towards the noise, curiosity getting the better of them.

The cause of the sudden commotion to belong to several people, three men on one side and a teenage girl on the other, standing in front of a cowering man, defiance clear in her eyes.

"Look kid stand aside before you get hurt, your only gonna make things worse for your new boss over there." One of the men, presumably the leader out of the three, spoke before he and his compatriots started to move towards the girl.

The girl however stood her ground."I don't think so tough guy, you can't just go and take people's money I won't allow it." She replied, holding up her arms in a defensive stance.

 _Damn, from the way that mans acting, this girl's got some nerve._

 _The man in question at that precise moment spoke up. "What are you doing, are you trying to get us killed!? Forget it your fired, my life isn't worth this." He cried, panic obvious from the man as he quickly ran back inside his shop, leaving the poor girl alone to deal with the, now evident, mob._

 _"_ _Well looks like you're on your own now kid, what are you going to do?" Their leader asked triumphantly as he and his men surrounded her inside a small half-circle._

 _Larik quickly noticing the girl was in trouble, looked in front to see Korra staring back at him, the question they both were about to ask disappearing as they both nodded their heads and climbed off of Naga._

 _"_ _Why don't you gentlemen take a walk somewhere else?" Larik called out, startling both the mobsters and the girl, their attention now squarely on the two outsiders._

 _"_ _Hey this is none of your business pal, why don't you yourself take a walk before we send you to the hospital." One of other men called out, the large mouth being in a green suit by the looks of it, causing his friends to laugh._

 _Korra however stopped that all too quickly. "_ You're the only ones who are gonna need a hospital and, for your sake, I hope there's one nearby."

"Who do you think you are?" their leader obviously irritated at their defiance, asked.

"Why don't you come and find out?"

A sudden silence filled the air as the gang leader thought every possible outcome through in his mind, analysing whether it was worth the risk or not.

Apparently to him it was.

His hand snaked out from underneath his coat, water gliding effortlessly through the air, in an attempt of a surprise attack that would have probably worked if Korra hadn't have had any water bending training.

Unfortunately for him, she did.

Korra with as little effort as possible catches the water in one hand before sending it straight back at him, the water turning into ice as it fully impacted his head, trapping his face within the ice. Korra wasn't done however as she then hits the struggling man with a spinning roundhouse kick and sending his face to hit his preciously ordained satomobile.

Capitalizing on the shock of their now fallen leader's friends, Larik darted across the clearing towards the earth bender, who had regained his composure and attacked by hurling multiple sizable rocks against him. Larik quickly dodged them, his hands behind his back as he continued forward, spinning around anymore incoming rocks before he made a sharp whistling sound, high-pitched and clear, towards the gangster, who evidently was confused by why Larik would do such a thing.

His question soon received an answer as the gangster turned to his right and stared in terror, his eyes subsequently widening by the sight of Bipin hurtling towards him, jumping in the air to do so.

The man, fortunately for him, ducked under the wolf's body as he jumped over him. His luck however changed for the worse as Larik was suddenly on top of him, holding his arm with only one hand before using his other arm to pull the gangster's own handheld arm with a sharp _click._

The man immediately screamed out in pain at his now dislocated shoulder, before being cut short by a straight thrusting kick square in his face, knocking him out, courtesy of Larik.

Larik, adrenaline pumping turned to face the last remaining gang member only to see he was already being taken care of.

The fire bender was raging a losing battle against the girl he and Korra helped, also a fire bender. However the difference in fighting styles was palpable. Whilst the gangster was using a more natural style of fighting, the girls could only have been more different as instead of blasting her opponent in fire like he was, she was using the fire as two large whips, their width widening the further away they were from her, whilst spinning around continuously as if she was a ballerina, whilst still moving forward as she advanced on him.

 _However different her style was, it was working. The gangster could simply not predict where she was going to go with her attacks. In desperation, the fire bender attempted to feint an attack to her left but then firing to his right, hoping that his distraction worked._

 _It didn't._

 _The girl saw through the blow and dodged his attack before hitting him with multiple strands of fire, reverting to the normal styles of fire bending, and finishing him off with a final burst of fire and causing the man to sail into the air and land in a cart full of cabbages, much to the owners cries of sadness._

 _The girl, a sly smirk on her face turned towards the pair, impressed by her prowess in defending herself. "Thanks for the help there, strangers, most people wouldn't have done what you did." She called appreciatively._

 _Korra soon spoke up, waving her hands out dismissively. "It was nothing, don't worry about it."_

 _"_ _Well thanks again anyway. My names Zyphia, a simple woman who has now lost her fifth job his month." A small chuckle came out. "Gotta be a new record."_

 _"_ _My names Korra and this is Larik." She replied pointing towards Larik as she spoke, who merely nodded his head and approached the two from where he was standing, Bipin in tow._

 _"_ _It's a pleasure to meet you Zyphia."_

 _"_ _You too, both of you." She replied with a smile._

 _Before they could continue their conversation, loud sirens blazed across the streets and skies, with the group looking up to an airship descending down, causing Zyphia's smile to drop sharply and a worried look soon filled where the smile had once been._

 _"_ _That's not good" she murmured._

 _And Larik soon knew why after he noticed the insignia planted on the ship's hull, filling him to dread upon realisation._

 _The police had arrived._


	10. Chapter 10- Chief Beifong

_Lin Beifong was by no means a patient person when it came to interrogations, but it was this particular trio that had really started to irk her._

 _One of them was sitting right in front of her now, the only male of the group in clothing that appeared to be a customised and adapted version of the robes that the air bending monks favoured so reverently, the only difference being that the entire clothing was coloured in different shades of black._

 _Lin looked down towards the sheet of paper that rested between her hands, reading the name to herself that had been put down for this certain individual._

 _Larik._

 _She frowned._

 _No last name?_

 _Curious._

 _"_ _Something the matter Miss...?" she looked up to stare at the boy, realising that he had seen the expression on her face._

 _"_ _No last name. Why?" she asked, suspicion clear in her voice._

 _"_ _I'm an amnesiac; I don't know my last name." Larik replied, a tired smile on his face indicating that he had answered this question before._

 _This one's going to be tricky, I can tell._

 _His entire posture plainly made it obvious that there was a sharp mind in the boys head, leaning back softly, and one leg over the other, his eyes always on her face._

 _"_ _Let's get straight to the point kid," she stood up and leant towards him, her face directly in front of his own. "Why did you attack those thugs and better yet why did you all run from my men!" her voice had grown to a yell near the end, the accusation clear in both her voice and eyes._

 _Larik noticeably shrunk slightly under her gaze before regaining his composure and straightening back up._

 _"_ _We didn't go in looking for a fight, Chief ..." he paused, realising he never asked her name._

 _"_ _Beifong." She curtly replied, earning her a raised eyebrow, not surprised with who the name had originally referred to._

 _Damn her fame and the headaches that is a result of it._

 _Noticing his silence she quickly made an impatient "hmm-mm" sound his way and he quickly resumed speaking._

 _"_ _... yes, well we didn't mean to have a fight ma'am, we only meant to help the lady in red clothing, who seemed utterly distressed with having three thugs threaten her life I might add, and it simply... uh... went out of hand you could say." He finished, sweat slowly trickling down his face._

 _You could say that again, kid._

 _"_ _You could've called the police, kid, and let us do our jobs." She retorted, hoping to see a glimmer of an emotion from him._

 _"_ _It was our first day here ma'am so I think it would have been difficult trying to find a satophone whilst this girl was getting attacked, and even then it would have been too late." He answered defensively, his face showing traces of anger and defiance._

 _"_ _Who else was with you anyway, the one that looks like she came from one of the northern water tribes?" she asked, rumours already circulating about who she was, with Lin hoping that it was for only that: rumours._

 _"_ _That would be Korra, the Avatar."_

 _Damnit._

 _At the unexpected silence that followed, Larik gave a confused glance her way. "You have nothing to say about that? Nothing?"_

 _Oh I do, kid._

 _"_ _Not for your ears I'm afraid, kid."_

 _He frowned slightly, disappointed briefly but then soon after he regained his composure, straightening back up._

 _"_ _After you manhandled those thugs, you attempted to evade capture, how and why?"_

 _"_ _Thats a good question ha-ha, one I'm more than happy to tell you."_

 _"_ _When does this story start?"_

 _A brief smile flashed through his smile, worrying Lin._

 _He is definitely one to watch she thought to herself._


	11. Chapter 11- Flashbacks

_"_ _Police! Freeze where you are!"_

 _As the group of bending teenagers looked up towards the now clearly visible airship going towards them, a sense of dread of what will most likely come soon washed over them, all except Korra who seemed to be quite proud of their handiwork._

 _Larik however, after looking around the area and realising the extent of the damage the group has caused, soon realised that it may not just be the thugs who would be detained and after a brief glance at Zyphia, who had a similar glum and an overly too serious expression to his own, indicated how she had also come to the same conclusion as he did._

 _"_ _You thinking what I'm thinking? He asked._

 _"_ _If what you're thinking is that we're in a hell of a lot of trouble then yea, I think we are." She replied, her voice more cynical than mere moments ago, indicating that this has happened to her before._

 _It would appear our new friend has had a couple of run-ins with the cops._

 _He then turned his attention to the group of policemen that had arrived on the scene: three of them detaining the gangsters and the last one, presumably the one in charge, started to walk towards the group, Korra in particular, which the pair had already started to talk to each other._

 _"_ _You're under arrest, too, all three of you." He stated, a face wrinkled in annoyance that was directed at the three._

 _Much to Larik's chagrin, Korra did not respond well to this, stepping a bit backwards to where he, Bipin and Zyphia were._

 _"_ _What do you mean I'm under arrest? Those are the bad guys over there! They were going to smash a shop! " she cried in outrage, pointing towards the gangsters to prove her point._

 _"_ _From the looks of it, you lot smashed up a lot more than that." He curtly replied, complacency seemingly taking over if his expression was any judge._

 _Larik fearing the worst, decided to step in. "Okay everybody, let's just calm down now I'm sure we can talk about this peacefu-"_

 _Before he could continue, the officer, seemingly done with talking, extended a metal cable from his whip and proceeded to attempt to restrain Korra, who barely dodged it._

 _"_ _Wait, you - you can't arrest me! Let me explain!" she lazily attempted to explain, only for the officer to cut her off with a statement of his own._

 _"_ _You can explain yourself all you like, down at headquarters." He said, before charging towards Korra, intent on her arrestment._

 _Oh bloody hell... here we go. Larik thought._

 _The officer, as he is charging, bends his cables towards her, who is only able duck from the unexpected assault and tumble backwards onto the ground. Before the officer could attack again, Larik quickly rushes up to him and kick him square in the chest, jumping slightly backwards from the momentum of his attack, and seeing how Bipin had manoeuvred behind the officer during this time, resulting in the man tripping himself up upon the body of wolf before crashing hard onto the ground._

 _The officer, as well as everyone else in the nearby vicinity, stares at him, with only a single sentence in response._

 _"_ _Oh shit..."_

 _Before the officers could respond, a sudden rush of water springs forward, creating a small barricade of ice between the two sides, resulting in all of the officers suddenly attacking the group in the hopes of capturing them._

 _"_ _Move!" Zyphia shouts before a particularly large metal cable slams the ground where she stood mere moments ago, having moved to Larik's side at the last moment, splitting the two of them away from Korra._

 _As the officers start to swarm over the makeshift barrier, Korra quickly jumps onto the saddle of Naga and attempting to reach the others, but before she could a pair of officers, renewed by their anger at their defiance, rush towards her and cutting her off from her friends._

 _Larik, realising she can't reach them, shouts "Go! We'll meet you at the temple." Before grabbing Zyphia's hand, whistling Bipin to follow him and running through a nearby alleyway._

 _Korra, seeing this, nods to herself and urges Naga into a different alleyway, with the officers who stopped her from joining her friends zip wiring after her, whilst the others run after Larik and Zyphia._

 _Larik, only just fully realising what he had done, let's go of Zyphia's hand and, whilst both are running, asks her "You can split if you want, no one will blame you. I can grab their attention for you to slip by."_

 _She shakes her head and with a smile says "Nah, I think I'll stick around. We came this far, why stop now?"_

 _Before he could respond an officer appears from the left, cable extended and bends it at them, forcing them to dodge it._

 _Larik rushes towards him and as he got closer, shoulder barges the officer to the ground, with Zyphia jumping on him and using him as leverage for her to catch up to Larik, who was starting to increase the distance between them._

 _As the group exit the long alley that they came from, they stumble through a large market area that had all types of items being on sale, from animals to clothes and to food, with Zyphia finding the time and grace to pickpocket an apple from one of said food stools._

 _Upon receiving a frown in her direction, Zyphia shrugs "A girl's got to eat."_

 _Before he could respond a shadow falls on them from the sky, which is revealed to be an airship bearing the police insignia, alarms sounding from it, and much to Larik's annoyance sees a defeated Korra and Naga hanging in the air, held by multiple cables seemingly sprouting from the ship._

 _"_ _That's ... not good." Zyphia remarks._

 _"_ _Thank you for stating the obvious."_

 _Suddenly as if by magic, seemingly dozens of police officers appear on all sides, surrounding them and forcing the teenagers to go back to back, Bipin growling menacingly._

 _"_ _You're surrounded! Surrender or we will use force!" One of the metal benders shouts, signalling the others to go into numerous stances, ready for anything that might happen._

 _"_ _Any ideas tough guy 'cause I don't know 'bout you but our chances are very slim." Zyphia whispers behind her back._

 _"_ _I've got one." Larik, his voice as steady and calm as if he was on a midday stroll, replies._

 _"_ _Oh yea, then what is it?"_

 _Larik suddenly steps forward, his arms up in the air and shouts "We surrender!"_

 _Zyphia, seeing as how her only back up is now waving the white flag, growls to herself before reluctantly raising her own hands up as well._

 _"_ _Great plan." She Mutters in Larik's direction._

 _Larik smiles and simply replies "I try my best."_


	12. Chapter 12- The Firebender

It was dark.

It was dark and cold.

And neither of these things helped the mood of a particular teenager in this prison cell, sitting on the only bed in the room, a mangy little thing that if you tried hard enough it would be broken in two, wondering how everything had gone so terribly wrong.

Larik, elbows on his knees and his hands on his face, looked down into the unforgiving face of the metal floor, hoping to find answers he knew would not be there.

He was not the only person in the room however.

The other was a petite girl and though the same age as the boy she was visibly smaller, on the border of people thinking her size made her 'cute'.

She had green eyes and long sleek black hair covering most of her face whilst the left side of her head was short, the hair mere centimetres from its beginnings, showing how it must have been shaved not too far off into the past.

Her clothing was a variety of colour, with a dark red jacket covering most of her upper body, matching with her trousers of the same colour, and attempting to hide her shirt of a lighter shade of red when compared to most of her other clothes.

She was currently sitting in one of the corners of the room, her back leaning back onto the wall, her head looking up as if searching into the bland ceiling and whistling a soft tune, both melodic and surprisingly cheerful, despite the circumstances.

The tune however, only made Larik more annoyed than what he was before.

"Can you stop that damn whistling for a couple of seconds please?" He asked with an emotionally exhausted sigh.

His attitude only made the girl's already forming smile widen even further.

"Just trying to keep the mood in here positive, don't want all of your doom-and-gloom to hit your friend like a ton of bricks when she gets back, can we?" She replied with a smile, leaning her head left to get a better look on the teenager.

Larik sighed again before looking back down. Korra was currently being 'questioned' by the Chief of police, which caused a slow chuckle to escape from his mouth.

Of course the daughter of arguably one of the most powerful people in the world aside from the Avatar would be here, why am I not surprised.

"You don't look too good there pal, you alright?" she inquired, a hint of concern shading over her eyes.

Larik, frowning replied "Well as you can see we're in a bit of situation right now so of course I'm not going to be 'looking too good'."

"Well, just saying but it was you who gave us up, remember?"

"Oh like we had any choice in the matter, it was our only option."

He sighed in frustration before standing abruptly up from where he was sitting and started to pace around the room, muttering to himself as he did so.

After a few minutes of mutterings, half-curses and frantic pacing Zyphia, with an amused smile on her face, brought herself up onto her feet and, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her smile still on her face, asked the question:

"I thought you were meant to be the cool and calculating man of action compared to your friend's not so slightly hot headed acts. Why are you suddenly having a panic attack?"

"Her name is Korra."

"What?"

"Korra, it's her name. She told you it when we first met. Use it."

"Oh okay then mate but you still haven't answered my question yet."

He stopped pacing. "I am worried for her. As you so kindly pointed out, she can think with her emotions more than her head sometimes and with that particular Chief doing the interrogating, I don't think her interrogation is going to go so well."

"Oh don't worry about Lin, she may be a bit of a pessimist and stubborn, but she has a soft heart under that, very, very hard exterior of hers."

Larik, now giving his full attention, asks "And how would you know that?"

"Well we have had a few run-ins in the past." She shrugged.

"Why am I not surprised."

"What? Life's hard when you don't have any money to help you by."

Larik, clutching his nose whilst breathing in heavily, goes and sits back down on the bed, muttering to himself as he did so.

"Why are you with her anyway? Are you... together..." She asked with a sly smile.

"No."

"You sure, she is quite the attractive women..."

"No. I see her more like my sister."

"Why?"

"She saved my life, and so I have a debt to repay. Also she was the first kind face I saw since I woke up."

Zyphia, her curiosity peaked, sat down next to him.

"What do you mean 'woke up'?"

"I'm an amnesiac and I have only 'woken up' a full year ago."

Zyphia, saddened by his condition, put her arm on his shoulder.

"Ah that's pretty harsh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"That's alright, you get used to it. Besides, I am now the bodyguard of the most important person in the world so that's a positive."

"What do you mean by that, bodyguard? Who is it?" Zyphia asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Korra, she is the Avatar."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Zyphia bounced off the bed, her entire body and facial expression conveying a sense of confusion and surprise.

"WHAT! She's the Avatar?" She practically shouted at him, stuttering through her shock as she did so.

Larik, amused by her behaviour and a smile on his face, simply nodded in confirmation.

Her mind completely shocked by the realisation, she started to pace around the room, muttering disbeliefs in almost a mirror performance of what Larik had done moments ago, until she slowly stopped herself from her pacing and turned to face her male counterpart, who had a wide smile on his face.

"Well, that's even more reason why you would want to go out with her." She said with a smirk on her face.

Larik, laughing full-heartedly, simply shakes his head whilst wiping some tears from his eye.

"And here I thought we were starting to get along."

They both started to chuckle, amused by each other's actions.

All that stopped however when an officer marched into the room, ceasing all laughter with his mere presence.

"You can both leave now." He said his voice gravelly behind a thick beard he was sprouting.

The two teenagers looked at each other, bewildered by their change of luck, before starting to walk behind the officer as they both exited the door.

Larik curiously asked "How come?"

"You two and your friend have been bailed out, without any fines needing to be paid. Your bailer has already settled that matter personally."

"Who is our 'bailer', exactly?" Zyphia asked.

"Who else could have taken the large fine that you all caused with little worry about any money problems than Councilman Tenzin of course."

"Oh..."


	13. Chapter 13- The End?

_It was cold on this particular night._

 _It was cold and extremely windy._

 _They were on the dock when the ship came in, bringing with it several members of the White Lotus to bring back their special 'guests'._

 _It would have been closer to say they were cargo._

 _"_ _I guess this is it."_

 _Larik being deep in his own thoughts, shifted back into awareness, turning his head to the left to face Zyphia, her face and subsequent mood solemn in the circumstances._

 _She was standing completely still, arms across her chest, in a tone of defiance that made it feel like she herself was going with them, her head looking forward, with only her eyes looking straight into Larik's soul to imply that she had even started speaking._

 _It took him a second to acknowledge what she had said before being able to respond "I guess it is, Zyph."_

 _She gave a low, short chuckle and asked in a questioning tone "Zyph? You only know me for a day and you've already started giving out nicknames. What's the deal, tough guy?"_

 _"_ _Ah your name's too long, decided to shorten it down for efficiency." He said with a small smile._

 _"_ _Wouldn't I have to give my consent before someone can change my own name?"_

 _Larik only offered a smile in response._

 _They both, however, soon turned solemn once again. Though they tried, both he and Korra could not convince Tenzin to let them stay, even when Korra had said that Katara allowed her, he would not budge. Even Zyphia had tried to help them, but given her apparent record, courtesy of Chief Lin Beifong, that did not help them at all._

 _Whilst it was a hard pill to swallow for Larik, it had hurt Korra the most out of everyone, as it was her idea to begin with._

 _"_ _It's hitting her hard." Larik nodded his head in agreement, turning to his right to check on the Avatar._

 _Whilst her back was straight, her head was bowed in, to Larik's dismay, acceptance of her fate._

 _Turning back towards Zyphia, he replies "I'm gonna check up on her."_

 _She smiles and nods her head. "Good, that's what friends are for."_

 _Larik, seeing as how this would be the last time he would see his new quirky friend, offers his hand in a handshake._

 _"_ _I'm glad I got to meet you, Zyph."_

 _Zyphia, for a second looks down, before taking his grasp into her own._

 _"_ _You too, tough guy."_

 _Larik lets go of her grasp and proceeds to walk towards Korra, where as he arrives he puts one arm over her shoulder, comforting her._

 _"_ _Hey don't worry, you tried your best there's nothing more you could do, we can always try again at a later date."_

 _Korra, her mood defeatist, half nods her head – not in agreement, but in acknowledgement._

 _And the White Lotus moves ever closer towards them._

 _Before he could continue his attempts to lift Korra's spirits, a large gust of wind blows through them, heralding the arrival of the children Jinora, Ikki and Meelo. Upon landing from the sky they all rush towards Korra, ignoring Larik's presence completely, much to his surprise and amusement, and proceed to engulf her in hugs._

 _"_ Are you coming to live with us on the island?" Ikki asks her excitement obvious on her face.

Korra, despairingly replies "No, I'm sorry, Ikki. I have to go home now."

 _Larik, attempting to raise the 'troops' morale, quickly cuts in "Don't worry you three, we'll see you all again sooner than you think. Try and chin up for me please?"_

 _The children only half-nodded, their sadness and disappointment obvious to everyone around._

 _The White Lotus members were almost right on top of them and Larik knew that they would be on their way back any second from now._

 _Guess this is it. Oh well... maybe we could try aga-_

 _"_ _Wait!"_

 _His thoughts interrupted, Larik released his grip of Korra and swung himself backwards, along with everyone else, to see that out of everyone it was Master Tenzin who had stopped their journey home._

 _Putting his arm on Korra's shoulder and smiling warmly at both of them, he says "_ I have done my best to guide Republic City toward the dream my father had for it, but you're right. It has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy, but you _are_ his legacy. You may stay and train air bending here with me. Republic City needs its Avatar once again."

Korra, her mood lifting considerably, pesters what seemed to be dozens of 'thank you' on the surprised master, not at least helping that his children were doing the exact same thing to him as Korra is.

Larik chuckles to himself at their... insistence in thanks, he himself only offering a warm smile and a nod towards Tenzin when he caught his eye, to which the master responded in kind, obviously relieved that at least one of the new arrivals knew how to keep his hands to himself.

Zyphia quickly jogs up to him, a wide smile on her face.

"Looks like this ain't goodbye just yet, tough guy."

"Looks like it, my dear... sure does."

As she stands next to him, content in their silence together, Larik, upon seeing Korra so visually happy and the expressions of Tenzin and his family, smiled a proper joy-filled smile for the first time in a long while and thought to himself:

 _I think our luck is starting to change for us._


	14. Chapter 14- Meditation

_It was peaceful._

 _That was all Larik could think of to describe what he was feeling._

 _Peaceful._

 _He was sitting, cross-legged and with his eyes closed, in the middle of one of the Air Temple's many, many, meditation areas._

 _Whilst Korra had never been able to grasp the concept of meditation herself, he had no quarrels with it himself, often finding it calming and helping him think clearly when needed._

 _It was something that had always helped him since he had arrived over a year ago, keeping the painful embrace of stress and frustration at bay when he couldn't conjure up any memories._

 _He didn't know how long he had stayed in that spot exactly, nor did he care, but unlike Korra he actually thought of meditation as a useful tool when one needed to relax and find their centre._

 _Their own inner peace._

 _Relax he told himself._

 _Relax and be at peace._

 _Be at pea-_

 _"_ _How ya doing there, tough guy?" A voice suddenly called to him, causing him to jump in both surprise and irritation._

 _A body suddenly squashed itself into his back, hugging him he realised, and placing an arm over his left shoulder._

 _Opening his eyes, Larik see's that it's none other than Zyphia, a large smile, full of humour._

 _"_ _And you are here because...?" he dryly asked._

 _"_ _I thought that since you looked soooo lonely out here, I thought I should come and say hi."_

 _"_ _It's called meditation Zyphia, being alone is the entire point." He responds._

 _"_ _Well excuse me if I don't know all the specifics of the Great Meditation techniques."_

 _Sighing to himself, Larik shakes his head and responds. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"_

 _"_ _Ah I decided to relieve myself for a couple of minutes, see what's happening in the world."_

 _"_ _You do realise that the only reason why you have this job is because of both me and Korra convincing Tenzin to take pity of you, right?"_

 _She smiles "Oh he loves me."_

 _"_ _No, no he doesn't."_

 _Whilst several traits of his new friend were entirely irritating to in his mind, Larik could admit that he did find Zyphia's particular sense of humour amusing, though he would never admit it._

 _"_ _How do you think Korra's doing with her training, tough guy?" She asks, redirecting Larik's attention towards the far left of the temple, where said person was attempting to train._

 _'_ _Attempting' being the key word in that sentence._

 _Upon seeing the student and the master, being Korra and Tenzin, Larik soon took not of the strange contraption that filled the otherwise bare training ground._

 _It was a large outline of a circle, filled with dozens of large wooden gates, all having the symbol of the air nation on them._

 _"_ _You think she can handle it?" Zyphia asked._

 _Before he could answer, one of the air bending kids, Jinora if he recalled correctly, sent a sharp gust of wind into the gates, causing them to all spin rapidly._

 _"_ _Uh..."_

 _Korra, as if hearing Zyphia's question as a challenge, rushes in to the gates, clear in her determination to succeed, with Larik praying that it would go smoothly._

 _It didn't._

 _They could only hear what was happening to her, but they could definitely hear what was happening to her, the poor girl, if the sounds that were being emitted were any indication._

 _"_ _Nope, definitely no."_

 _"_ _You think she will be able to get it anytime soon?"_

 _Korra suddenly, to their shock, shoots fire into the gates out of presumably pure anger, setting all of the gates alight and eliciting a groan from both Zyphia and Larik._

 _"_ _Do you want me to answer that?"_

 _It's going to be a long day._


	15. Chapter 15- The Brothers

_This may have been a mistake._

 _That was what was going through Korra's mind._

 _Mistake._

 _I've been making plenty of them lately she thought bitterly._

 _Korra was in the pro-bending arena. A mind boggling structure of metal, it housed the pro-bending games where two teams, each having three members who specialise in earth, water or fire, face off for pride, money and eternal glory._

 _She was giddy with anticipation just thinking about it._

 _However, getting caught by the apparent owner of the gym she was in was not part of the plan._

 _Damnit._

"There you are!" A voice said. "I've been looking everywhere for you! It's all right Toza, she's with me."

 _Well this could get interesting._

 _The voice came from a boy, about the same as Korra in terms of age, in a red and white uniform with little hints of green on the side. He had black hair, with a particularly curly strand of hair over his forehead, and green eyes vibrant with life._

 _He was smiling at her, somewhat expectantly._

 _Oh, right._

 _"_ _Yeah, I'm with him." She says, with a nod from the boy showing that that was the smart decision._

 _"_ _Ooh, right this way, miss." He says, guiding her out of the room and away from the rather annoyed looking gym owner._

 _"_ _I thank you sir" She replies in turn, a smile on her face, before whispering "Seriously, thanks."_

 _He merely smiles towards her, before opening another door and allowing her to step through._

 _Into the room that was directly in front of the actual arena used for pro-bending._

 _"_ _Whaddya think? Best seats in the house, huh?" He asks._

"Woah! Unbelievable! This place is even more amazing than I imagined!" And it was true, it was everything she had envisioned and more so.

"Name's Bolin, by the way."

 _Still looking around, Korra could only reply with "Korra."_

 _It was then that Korra realised that they were not the only people in the room._

 _There were two other boys in the room but it was the one that Bolin was talking to that caught her eye._

 _Same black hair, only this was more spiked up compared to Bolin's, yellow eyes, and despite the fact that he had a narrower jaw line than Bolin, it was obvious that he and Bolin were brother._

 _Well hello._

 _It was then that she saw that Bolin was gesturing to her to come forward, to which she complied._

"Come here, I want you to meet my brother, Mako."

Momentarily stunned, Korra replies, whilst holding out her hand in greetings "Mako? Wow, I-I heard you playing on the radio."

However, Mako seemingly ignoring her, merely says to Bolin "Come on, Bolin, we're up."

 _Ouch, that's a tad harsh isn't it?_

"... Or I could meet him later." She murmurs to himself, slightly disappointed with Mako as he passes her by.

"Yeah, sorry about that. My brother just gets real ... focused before a match." Bolin says, in an effort to keep her spirits up.

"Okay, I gotta go, wish me luck. Not ... that I'll need it."

"Good luck. Knock 'em out!"

 _Well, at least I have the best view possible._ She thought, as all three members of the team went out towards the arena.

"Good, I thought they would never leave."

"Wait, what?" She murmurs in surprise, turning around to see Larik behind her, a serious look on his face as he stood next to her.

"What is it with you and leaving me high and dry huh?" he asks a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Yea ... sorry 'bout that, forgot to mention."

"I've noticed."

A silence fell over the pair of them, breaking only by the distant sounds of battle ahead of them.

A small laugh then escaped the mouth of Larik, surprising Korra and furthering the smile on his face.

"You sure know how to make a bodyguards job, his life even, far more difficult than it needed to be, you know that right?"

A smile soon encompassed Korra's face in turn "Yep sure do, you lot need to earn your keep."

"I would say that was fair but for the fact that I don't get paid." He replies, causing both teenagers to chuckle.

"Next time" Larik goes on, holding out his hand whilst speaking. "Bring me along on your little adventures."

"Deal." She says, accepting the offered handshake.

"How did you get here anyway?"

"I 'borrowed' a boat after seeing you, quite ungracefully I might add, jump into the sea and start to swim to the arena."

"Good to know."

They stayed silent after that, watching the rest of the match with excitement and vigour, until the 'Fire Ferrets', the team Bolin and Mako were on, took home the win.

"Here they come." Larik whispers to Korra, earning a chuckle.

"Woohoo! Yes! One more win and we're in the championship tournament! So, what'd ya think, Korra? Bolin's got some moves, huh?" He asks, at first oblivious to Larik's presence, much to his irritation.

Grabbing his shirt, she replies "What did I think? What did I _think_? That was amazing!"

"Calm down, dear, I don't want to have to carry you back home due to you passing out in excitement." Larik comments, sighing in both amusement and embarrassment at his friends actions, before holding out his hand to Bolin, to which Bolin accepts.

"Larik."

"Bolin."

"Good game out there, Bolin, congratulations."

"Thanks."

Korra, still happy over their victory, turns towards Mako. "You guys were incredible out there! Especially you, Mr. Hat Trick!"

"Oh, you're still here?" Mako replies coldly, earning a frown from Larik, who huffed at his comment and getting ready to act if necessary.

"Oh, you're still a jerk?" She replies, before turning back to Bolin.

"Anyway I've been immersed in bending my entire life, but I never learned how to move like that! It's like there's a whole new style here! Think you could show me a few tricks?"

"Yeah, I could show you the basics. I'm just not sure how my earth bending would translate to your water bending but we'll figure it out."

Korra however was smiling slyly, replies "Won't be a problem, I'm actually an earth bender."

"I'm sorry, no, no! I didn't mean to assume! 'Cause I, you know, I was just figuring ... with your Water Tribe getup ... that you are ... a Water Tribe ... gal." Bolin replies, holding his hands up in apology.

"Nope, you're right. I'm a water bender. And a fire bender." She replies smugly, as well as seeing how Larik smiles, sensing what was coming.

Holding his chin, Bolin replies "Mm. Mm-hmm. I'm very confused right now." Before getting interrupted by Mako.

"You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot."

Larik and Korra smiling, simultaneously, say:

"Both are true."

"Yes, yes you are."

Bolin, his eyes widening in shock and his mouth wide open, could only muster the words "No ... way, the _Avatar!"_ Earning a chuckle and a smile from Larik, who had his arms folded cross, amused by his particular 'mannerisms'.

Korra had only one thought in mind at that moment in time.

 _This may not have been a mistake after all._


	16. Chapter 16- Teachings

_This is a long set of stairs_ Larik thought in between breaths as he trekked up said stairs.

 _How can this family last with these damn stairs._

 _Oh yeah, they're air benders._

The reason why Larik was going up the long, _long_ , set of stairs was due to the fact that whilst Korra was continuing her air bending training and Zyphia was busy with her workload at the temple, there were not a lot of things to do so Larik had decided to train himself and practice with his sword.

The sword that, to his regret, was in his room.

The room that was on the highest floor of the temple.

"I really hate this room." He muttered to himself.

After ten minutes of climbing these forsaken stairs, Larik finally managed to reach the floor that his room was on, breathing a sigh of both relief and exhaustion in the process.

"I'm gonna have to ask if I can move into a different room, one that is closer to the ground." He muttered, already formulating a way to start the conversation with Tenzin.

A thought process that he interrupted himself when he noticed the open door that lead to his room.

 _I'm sure I closed the door when I went for breakfast._

A soft set of footsteps, scuttling around the room with care, soon confirmed his thought.

 _I know I closed it._

Creeping next to the door, Larik attempting to hear anything else that would offer clues to the intruder's whereabouts, before rushing into the room in a mad mass of movement, instinctively getting into a defensive stance to face off the intruder.

An intruder that was 10 years old.

Jinora, shocked from the sudden appearance of Larik, fell from the bed in a great _crash!_

"Jinora! What are you doing in my room?" Larik asked, annoyed at the blatant compromise of privacy.

"Sorry ... I was uh, just going to help tidy your room and I kinda got distracted." The girl replied meekly, obviously embarrassed by the current predicament.

"I noticed." Larik responded, noticing his book open on a random page on his bed.

Picking it up, he asks "May I ask why you decided to have a look at my book?"

"I ... got curious and decided to have a quick peek. I'm terribly sorry I should have asked for permission and-" She started to say in rush, only  
stopping to catch her breath when Larik held up his hand to stop her from continuing.

"It's fine." He said, releasing a tired sigh in the process, before noticing what was on the page of his book.

"You're interested in sign language?" He asked.

"I uh, find it interesting."

"Can you remember what was on this page?" He curiously asked.

"I think so." She responded, her spirit lifting somewhat, her curiosity at what Larik was thinking starting to become obvious.

"Ok, what's the sign for _A_?" Larik questioned.

Taking a moment to think, Jinora then raised her left hand, with her four fingers clenched and her thumb sticking up towards the sky.

"Ok, that's good. _B_?"

Still with her left hand, she soon shot her four fingers up in a straight line, all closely together and with her thumb now placed within her palm.

"That's good, Jinora. I see you've got a good mind on ya." He said with a smile, giving Jinora a smile of her own.

"Alright, you want to learn sign language. I know sign language, don't ask me how but I do." He says with a chuckle.

"How would you feel if I teach you sign language fully?"

"Really? Are you serious?" Jinora asks her eyes wide in disbelief and suddenly standing up from the shock.

"I'm deadly serious. Every day you meet me at the left wing of the temple, 2-3pm and I'll teach you how to sign. How about that? We can start today if you want." He asks a smile on his face.

"Yes please! I'll get ready right now downstairs." She cries, her voice filled with joy, before shooting out of the room and down the stairs in a blur, particles of dust high in the air in her wake.

"Well I better get going." Larik says to himself with a smile before getting up, with book in hand, out of the room.

Only to stop at the sight of the stairs, heaving a sigh out of his lungs.

"Ah, should have said that we could have learnt it in my room."

And with that, Larik started the long trek back down, ready to fulfil his newfound duties a a teacher, something he did not expect would happen in a long time.


	17. Chapter 17- Pro-Bending

"This may have not been the smartest of ideas." Larik said, sighing to himself and placing a hand on his face in contemplation.

"To be fair, it was her idea." Zyphia replied, moving to sit beside him on a bench.

"True, but even this is stretching the limits." He replied, scratching his chin, whilst watching what was happening before his very eyes.  
Though he spoke against the course of action, Korra had once again snuck out to watch the pro-bending games only this time with Larik and Zyphia coming with her. However when they arrived, they found out that the Fire Ferrets water bender, Hasook, hadn't shown up leading to Korra to take his place on the team.

And was now in the middle of the match fighting like there was no tomorrow.

 _There won't be a tomorrow if Tenzin finds out._

Korra on the other hand was only thinking about how exciting the games were and how frustrating the rules to said game were.

 _Too many rules if you ask me._

She, admittedly, wasn't the most experienced pro-bender and everyone playing knew it, considering that the 'Platypus bears' were focusing all of their efforts on throwing her overboard and into the drink.

 _Give a girl a chance_ she thought as a particularly powerful water blast nearly sends her packing, Korra narrowly avoiding the blow.

Her anger boiling, Korra attempts to attack with a water blast to the left of the opposing opponent, an earth bender, only to abandon the attack when both the fire and water bender attack her from multiple sides, forcing Korra back onto the defensive and increasing her near seething anger at her position.

 _Oh come on!_ She thought, before instinctively using two earth 'coins' to deflect fire, water and earth combo attack, revealing her Avatar identity to the world.

"Uh... that's not good." She mutters to herself, smiling awkwardly to the referee who simply stared at her with shock, before turning back to the locker room where Larik and Zyphia were currently watching.

"Definitely not good."

Larik could only stare at her in shock for what he considered to be sheer stupidity on her part, before sighing to himself and turning towards Zyphia, who had an embarrassed smile on her face.

"Well" She started "On the bright side, she lasted longer than I expected." Shrugging to herself in the process.

"It won't be long till Tenzin shows up." Larik replied, his voice sombre.

No sooner had the words left his mouth did the match resume, the referee's agreeing to allow her to surprisingly stay in the game.

And still the Bears targeted the Avatar, her lack of experience still being a key weakness.

Just as she finally started to gain some momentum against her opponents did she get blasted by a shot of fire to her side, throwing her of balance and leading to her getting fully blasted by a water and earth combo, finally sending her into the water below.

 _That could've gone better_ she thought as she pulled herself on to the elevator.

And straight into the body of one very angry Tenzin, with both Larik and Zyphia standing beside him, their body and facial language showing their sympathy for her.

"Oh, hey, Tenzin! I thought you didn't like coming to these matches!" She started, chuckling to herself nervously.

"Once again, you have flagrantly disobeyed my orders. You were to stay on the island! Let's go." And with that, the air bending master turns to leave, confident in his thinking that the Avatar would comply.

She wouldn't.

"No! I'm kind of in the middle of something." Korra replies, standing her ground as Tenzin turns back to face her, his anger palpable.

"I have tried my very best to get through to you by being gentle and patient, but clearly the only thing you respond to is force! So I am ordering you to come _back_ to the temple _right now_!"

To all present's surprise, Korra's stubborn streak would not allow her to do so, commenting "Why? So I can sit around and meditate about how bad I am at air bending? You know, I'm beginning to think there's a reason I haven't been able to learn it! Because, maybe, I don't even _need_ it!" She shouts at him.

"What? That is a ludicrous suggestion! The Avatar needs to learn air bending! It's not optional!"

"No! _This_ is what I need to learn! Modern styles of fighting!" She cries, pointing towards the ring above her, where the shouts of battle were still raging.

"Being the Avatar isn't all about fighting, Korra! When will you learn that?"

"I have a match to go finish." She concludes decisively, turning around to return to the ring.

Said match, however, was ready to cut her pro-bending debut short as The Platypus Bears continued to push Korra back repeatedly, whilst cornering the two brothers who were unable to come to her aid.

 _It's over._ Larik thought.

 _It's not over._ Korra thought to herself, breathing in deep as she proceeded to calm herself.

And to her surprise, she instinctively got herself into the air bending stance that she was taught, changing the direction of the match by now dodging all attacks thrown her way through air bending techniques.

"Well would you look at that." Larik whispered to himself, an awed expression on his face.

The match turning due to Korra's nimbleness and the Bears being fatigued, Mako and Bolin suddenly spring to life, being given an opening, and proceed to attack the Bears with vigour before successfully eliminating the opposing fire and earth bender and getting ready to get rid of the remaining water bender.

The water bender for his part skilfully dodging all attacks, before suddenly loosing multiple water attacks at the trio, successfully sending Mako and Bolin out.

 _He's pretty good._ Both Larik and Korra thought.

The two water benders dodged and countered each other's attack, reaching a stalemate in the process, before the opposing water bender pulled of a ruse, tricking Korra into protecting her left flank before hitting her right, and successfully sending her near the edge and onto her knees, exhaustion setting in.

 _He's got me._ Korra thought to herself as she prepared for the inevitable attack to hit her.

It never did.

Korra, looking up, see's the bender in a defensive stance yet making no move to finish her.

"Avatar" he shouts out to her, a cultured voice behind the headgear covering his face "You best stand up, I never hit someone when they're down."

Everyone was shocked, including the bender's own team, at his refusal to finish the match, Larik overhearing the commentators saying to the audience:

"That's Kassuq for ya folks, a rare type of pro-bender that one, a mixture of skill and seemingly honour."

 _Interesting._

Korra, for her part, slowly got back to her feet and got into a defensive stance.

"You ready?" The bender shouted to her, with Korra merely nodding her head.

An unspoken timer soon went into each of their heads, counting down till they strike.

Suddenly both benders fire off multiple strands of water, Korra to the right and Kassuq to the left.

It was at that moment that Korra swiftly ducked down low and shot forth a second shot of water straight at him, with Kassuq getting hit square in the chest and sending him sprawling off the ring and into the water.

And with that she had won.

As Korra looked around her at the cheering crowd she caught the sight of Tenzin, with a seemingly soft smile on his face before nodding at her and leaving the arena.

It was recognition she realised as all the puzzles swiftly clicked into place at the gesture.

Recognition that Pro-bending was _working._

And because of that, did her smile only widen.


	18. Chapter 18- The Healer

_It has been a good night._

That was what Larik was thinking as he stared at the open, black sea whilst standing in one of the arena's balcony.

 _A really good night._

He was proud of Korra, despite what he thought about her actions. Whilst he had felt sorry for the two brothers, he just didn't think that helping them was worth the trouble, yet Korra of course would help them.

 _Ah it's in her nature_ he thought.

It was that willingness to help others that had placed a smile on his face as the wind brushed past his face, like a solid rock standing proud against a tidal wave.

He breathed in the fresh air, closing his eyes as he did so, relishing how cold and fresh it was.

 _This could really work for us._

If done right, he knew, this 'opportunity' could be a game changer for both him and Korra. They could actually help people here. Not the 'When your older' drabble that the White Lotus members would often say to Korra, much to his frustration.

"Time to get back to the others." He whispered to himself, noting how there was an impromptu celebration for their victory.

As he turned around to head back to the celebrations, Larik heard the faintest of sounds.

It would have been easy to miss if there was some other noise covering it but it was there.

 _Voices._

 _Muffled voices for that matter._

He could hear it more clearly now as he slowly walked through the hall that lead to the balcony, growing louder with each step he took until he could fully hear the conversation at hand.

"What in spirits name was that, Kassuq? I thought we were passed all of... _this."_ A male shouted out anger clear in his voice.

 _Hmm the Platypus Bears I assume._

"And I have told you before; I don't strike people down when they are on the ground." Another voice responded patiently, his voice cultured and polite despite the circumstances.

"Well you better start _hitting_ them pal because I swear to the spirits you are costing us our title shots!"

"Calm down Peteri, your acting like a spoilt child. We'll have other opportunities."

Larik could see them now, the three members of the Platypus Bears, as he peeked over the corner of the nearest wall.

Two were of average height, same average size of Korra if he could tell, both dark haired with pale skin reflecting light off of them. One of them, the one talking Larik summarized, was standing in front of the apparent Kassuq whilst the other one was standing behind the man and both were threatening in appearance.

Kassuq however seemingly dwarfed the pair, not in height but from how broad his shoulders were and the obvious layers of defined muscles underneath his pro-bending gear. He had dark skin, similar to Korra and common in water benders whilst showing off long dark coloured hair that reached below his shoulders and had the most impressive of brown eyes that somehow radiated both tranquillity and intensity at the same time from Larik's field of view.

"A spoilt child! I'll show you a spoilt child you miserable..." Peteri cried, muttering at the end of his sentence before sprouts of flame appeared in both of his hands, with the man behind him raising broken pieces of rock from the floor to face the water bender.

"Do you really want to do this?" Kassuq whispered, staring intently into Peteri's eyes before suddenly spinning round and sending a large spear of water towards him, sending him sprawling on the ground, dodging the boulders of rock as he does so and sending another spear of water directly into his teammate, sending him to the ground as well.

Before the situation could deteriorate any further, Larik hurriedly went towards Kassuq' side, his sword that he had brought with him out of its sheath and into the night sky.

"I wouldn't try anything else if I were the two of you, your both outmatched here." He called out to them, earning a pair of angry looks on their faces and a surprised yet slightly relieved Kassuq.

"Who says so pal." The fire bender Peteri called out, spitting blood out his mouth whilst speaking.

"The official bodyguard of the Avatar, that's who." Larik replied.

Larik pressed home his advantage once having seen the looks of horror on their faces. "Attacking a man is punishable gentlemen and having the bodyguard of the Avatar speak against you is something neither of you wants."

"Go home boys." Kassuq concluded, earning a scowl from the Platypus Bears.

"Fine, you've gotten lucky Kassuq but don't think you can come back after this, you're done!" He shouted, before grabbing his friend and running off, Kassuq releasing a sigh once they're out of sight.

"Well that went well. Thanks for your help there...?" He trailed off, never having asked his name.

"Larik."He replied, holding out his hand whilst saying so, with Kassuq accepting it after a couple of moments.

"Kassuq."  
"I've heard. Why did you not take the Avatar out when you had the chance?" Larik asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Same as what I told my friends who just left. I don't hit people when they're on the ground." Kassuq replied, politely yet firmly.

"Fair enough. Any plans for what you're gonna do?"

"Not sure but I'll figure something out." And with that he started to walk away.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to find a job now, friend. See you around." He called to Larik.

"Hold on their Kassuq, I may be able to help you with that." Larik said, earning the interest of Kassuq as he turned back around.

"Really?" He said with a hint of scepticism.

"Really. I know a guy but I'll need you with me if I can convince him to help you out, understand?" With a nod from Kassuq being the only source of understanding.

"Come on then, let's go! I'm gonna need to introduce you to some of my friends too." Larik concluded, nudging Kassuq to follow him back down the hallway, which Kassuq complied with.

Little did they know that this would be the foundation of a long friendship.


	19. Chapter 19- Background Check

Well this is... nice." Zyphia stated a bored look on her face as she looked at her bowl of dumplings.

She, Kassuq and Larik were in one of her favourite diners, _The Spirits Paradise_ it was called, a humble diner that in her opinion had some of the finest foods when compared to that of the more luxurious restaurants in Republic City.

"Why did you bring us here Zyphia?" Larik began, a look of curiosity on his face, no hint of malice in either his face or voice. "Not that this isn't nice of course but I'm rather curious as to why you've brought us here."

"I just thought we should get to know each other, that's all." She replied with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh really. In that case we could have done that back at that temple of yours." Kassuq replied, a confused frown plastered on his face.

"Yea but I prefer this fine place's food instead of that vegan diet those air benders are on."

"True. It isn't the best food that's for sure." Larik agreed, a small smile due to her comment.

Grinning at the fact that they agreed with her taste buds, Zyphia proceeded to carry on with her thought process.

"So, as we're here, let's talk about ourselves hmmm. Get to know each other properly."

"So that's why you brought us here. To 'get to know us' as you put it." Kassuq pointed out, drawing her attention to his muscular figure on her side of the table.

They had met last night when celebrating the Fire Ferrets victory, Kassuq surprisingly being humble in defeat (something which she thought was both kind and slightly attractive in her opinion) but it was only now that she could get a proper look at the man.

He had long, dark flowing hair that was braided in what was traditional water tribe customs, three separate ponytails loping behind his back, which added a sense of authority to his already dignified and honourable character. He was wearing traditional water tribe clothing, a long sleeved top, blue in colour and a darker shade of blue for the pair of trousers he was wearing.

"Well if we're going to start somewhere, let's start with me." Kassuq continued. "I was born in the southern Water Tribe though I moved here with my Uncle when my dear father, bless his heart, passed away peacefully."

"Damn that's... sad." Zyphia replied after a couple of minute's silence, Larik merely nodding his agreement.

"He had his time there's nothing else to it really 'Zyphie'. When I was seventeen, about a year ago give or take a couple of days, I decided to go out and live a little and joined the Platypus Bears as their water bender. Well up until last night anyway."

"One heck of ride if I might say so my friend." Larik commented, finally breaking his silence.

"It's something." Kassuq replied with a small, amused smile before continuing." What's your story anyway 'bodyguard of the Avatar', how did you meet our dear Avatar?"

"Well considering I'm an amnesiac, I don't have a childhood to remember but I can tell you that. Basically I woke up in the middle of the night with a storm raging around me, got attacked by some White Lotus guards, got saved by the Avatar and decided that I needed to repay her for it. Thus I became the Avatar's bodyguard." He summarised, scratching the ear of Bipin whilst speaking, the animal panting with glee at him doing so.

"I was hoping there would be fireworks in all honestly." Zyphia muttered, a deadpan look on her face as she stared at Larik before breaking into a smile as Kassuq started to laugh at her comment, amused by it.

"What about you my dear, we've answered your requests and told you our stories. Why don't you tell us yours?" Larik inquired, curiosity clear in his face, yet not realising that he had knocked on a door that she would have rather left closed.

 _Calm down Zyph_ she thought as she suddenly felt herself start to tear up, to the surprise of her friends. _You asked them so it shouldn't be surprising that they would ask you._

 _Still hurts to think about it though._

"Are you alright Zyphia?" Kassuq asked her, concern clear in his face as he put his arm around her shoulder to comfort her which did to a degree.

Larik suddenly looked guilty and remorseful at what he had done to make his friend act in such a way. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise that it hurts so. You don't have to answer it, I'll understand."

"It's okay, really its fine! I will tell you but not just yet. It still hurts as you can see." She replied emotion in her voice as she slowly regained control of her tears.

"We're here whenever you need us Zyphie, just ask." Kassuq said with a smile, continuing to comfort her as she did so.

"Zyphie?" She replied after a moment of silence, a tiny smirk on her face due to his remark.

"What I thought it sounded nice. If you don't want me to–"He started to say, thinking he had offended her, before she interrupted him.

"No! No its fine. I find it quite sweet actually." She said with a smile to which he replied with one of his own.

Larik, seeing this, found himself suddenly uncomfortable.

 _I'm starting to feel like a third wheel or something being here in front of these two._

Before any of them could continue, a voice suddenly filled the silence with a hint of panic.

"Larik!" A voice cried out upon seeing him, revealing them self to be Korra, worry, confusion and panic plastered on to her face.

"What is it Korra?" Larik asked, standing to his feet whilst speaking, Kassuq and Zyphia doing so as well.

"It's Bolin. He's gone." She cried.

What had started out as a nice day out for the three friends had been broken as soon as the words left her mouth.


	20. Chapter 20- Equalists

"Something's not right here." Larik murmurs to no one in particular, staring at the empty door that though closed, gave off the impression that something wasn't quite right with the place.

"Stating the obvious here, tough guy." Zyphia replies in a similar murmur of her own, staring at the door with clear curiosity.

"Can we please get to the task at hand?" Mako, who was standing behind the pair as they stared at the door, irritably cut in, his worry for his brother palpable.

"I'm inclined to agree, let's stick to the matter at hand shall we?" Kassuq comments before slowly, Korra walking slightly ahead of him as he did so, moving towards the door.

"Something's not right. There're usually thugs posted out front. We better be cautious." Mako replied, his worry steadily increasing as time goes on.

"That's the first smart thing you've said since we've met, Mako." Larik calls out to him, rubbing the ear of Bipin as he said so, a surprising hint of malice to his voice, Mako merely shrugging it off with a look at Larik's direction.

The fact of the matter was that whilst he and Bolin hit it off together, Larik just could not get over the way Mako acted, hell _still_ acts towards Korra, which quite simply rubs Larik the wrong way. The only reason he decided to come and help the guy was because he liked Bolin and could see that the guy was a good man overall.

 _First this guy treats us like dirt then when something bad happens he comes running for our help! Make your bloody mind up man!_

As these thoughts raced round his head, Korra with no attempt at stealth walks through the door and opens it with nothing more than a flourish, eliciting a groan from all those present.

"You and your hatred of stealth." Larik says with a small smile and a shake of the head as he walks past her, noting at the completely empty room, as well as the eerie quiet that has come with it.

 _This isn't what I was expecting, in all honesty._

"Bolin? You in here?" Mako shouts out into the silent building, lifeless in all meaning, and completely oblivious to the grimace that Larik makes at the lack of stealth.

"No one likes the stealth option it seems." He mutters to himself, shaking his head in the process before harshly cutting Mako off as he shouts out again.

"Save your breath man! He's not here, spirits no one is bloody here." He says with frustration waving his arms around to empathise his point.  
A roar of an engine halts any further talk between the two men, surprise and confusion clear on everyone's face, before they rushed outside to figure out the origins of the noise.

A roar of an engine halts any further talk between the two men, surprise and confusion clear on everyone's face, before they rushed outside to figure out the origins of the noise.

Before all of them was a large, dark coloured truck, its back doors still open and up to five motorcycles beside it, all being ridden by these masked figures that were clad in black. This however wasn't the thing that stunned them. It was the fact that in the van was not only several members of the Triple Threat Triad but the figure of a gagged and bound Bolin, sheer terror all too clear in his eyes.

"He is there though." Larik mutters to himself, drawing his blade from its sheath whilst saying so.

One of the masked figure's , seeing the sizable group of people staring right at them, throws a canister right towards them, dark green smoke rising from the canister at a rapid pace and blinding them for a crucial few seconds, long enough for the small convoy of vehicles to start up and drive away.

"Oh no you don't!" Mako shouts out in anger, running towards the Satomobile that Kassuq owns, followed by Zyphia and Kassuq, with Larik and Korra getting on the massive back of Naga before running after them.

A chase ensues between the two sides, neither giving up as Mako and Zyphia spouts out fire towards the van in the hopes of stopping it, though the masked figures keep dodging them. Before the pursuing party could react, two of the motorcyclists fall back from the rest of their group, one throwing what appears to be a bola at Naga, to which her legs get caught in it and stopping her advance, throwing both Larik and Korra to the ground with a great crash whilst the other throws a similar smoke canister directly into Kassuq's Satomobile, causing them to swerve out of control and into a wall with thankfully little damage to either the vehicle and its passengers though all were dazed from their sudden stop.

Larik, upon standing to his feet from the fall, narrowly dodges a strike to his head from one of the masked figures, bringing his blade from out of his sheath as he ducks under it, only to get hit by four lightning fast punches to his right side, causing his right arm to go numb.

Surprised, Larik swings his blade in a downward arc at the figure, who dodges it and hits him again in his left leg with pinpoint precision, the sudden numbness of his leg causing him to go down on one knee and effectively immobilising him.

Just as the masked figure was about to strike again, they're partner signals them with Larik seeing as how Korra is in a similar position as he is, her left arm and right leg showing the same signs of numbness. Both masked figures suddenly retreat, hoping back on their motorcycles and driving off as the familiar figures of Kassuq, Zyphia, Mako and Bipin come rushing ahead, having only then drive off their dazedness.  
It was then that Larik realised how quickly the entire fight was, lasting one or two minutes at both.

"Ugh, I can't bend. _I can't bend!"_ Korra cries as she slowly gets back to her feet, Mako quick to calm her down.

"Calm down, it'll wear off. Those guys were chi blockers."

"Are you sure?" Korra cries out again, panic at her being bender less taking hold.

"He's right Korra. The techniques that they used, I'm familiar with them. They're in my book." Larik calls out to her, slowly getting on to his feet with the help of his sword and Bipin.

"They're Amon's henchmen." Mako continues with a grunt.

"Amon? That anti-bending guy with a mask? Korra asks.

"That's the one. The leader of the 'great Equalists'." Kassuq replies to her, a hint of disgust in his voice.

"What do they want with the Triple Threats?"

"Whatever it is it can't be good. Urgh, can't _believe_ Bolin got himself into this mess!" Mako shouts out in frustration, only to be stopped by Korra's voice.

"Mako, we are going to save your brother. I promise you that." Korra replies softly, putting a hand out onto his shoulder before he brushes it off and walks back to the car, Korra close behind him.

"I'm gonna say it once and I'm gonna say it again. This is not good." Larik whispers to himself, a slight frown of remorse on his face, before slowly walking back towards the others, worry on his mind.


	21. Chapter 21- One To One

_I am so tired_ Zyphia thought to herself, rubbing her eyes whilst doing so.

"You know in hindsight I think that could have gone much worse than what actually happened." Kassuq noted soothing some cool healing water on Zyphia's left shoulder which was severely bruised, eliciting a chuckle from the injured woman.

"Seriously? Last night was not a bad night? Your more optimistic than I give you credit for." She mused, yawning slightly due to the sheer exhaustion that has befallen her.

After the incident with the Equalists the party of five continued their pursuit for the captured brother for several hours, long into the night and into the early hours of morning, before the pair being forced to give up the search and rest up, per Larik's orders where he himself along with Korra and Mako continued the hunt.

It was now the evening of the day after their fight with the Equalists and there was still no sign of the three hunters, stirring a sense of worry between the two benders.

"I'm curious now, how was last night not a bad night? One of our friends got captured by these Equalist thugs, you're lucky your Satomobile isn't toast and us along with it, Korra and Larik got their butts kicked and now we have no idea of what's happened with Bolin and the rest of the guys! What's good about that?" She ranted towards him, frustration seeping into her words due to the fact that she wasn't able to help her friends.

"We're not dead so that's a plus." Kassuq quietly mused to himself, finishing up his healing of her arm, revealing a faint yellow smudge on her arm which was a difference from the near enormous black bruise that was there earlier.

"Good point. Nice job with that healing by the way, very nice." She complimented, looking at her shoulder in astonishment.

"Thanks. Now be careful with that shoulder, most of the bruising is gone but there's still enough of it to make you sore if you try anything strenuous." He ordered, his voice suddenly turning into that of a serious doctor, earning him a smile in the process.

"Got it Doctor K, How did you learn to do that anyway?" She asked, curiously looking up at the slouching yet still tall man beside her.

"It's something that all water benders pick up, nothing special to it." He replied with the attempt of dissuading her to continue with her questions, which she failed to pick up.

"Oh please not all of them do. Come on spill it how did you learn to be a healer?" She asked with a good natured chuckle, lightly punching him in his left arm, causing him to smile despite himself.

"I learnt it from my uncle. He was a retired medic for the Republic Navy and was hoping that I would follow his footsteps in the Navy, though he would never openly admit it the stubborn old man that he is." He chuckled to himself, reminiscing about a particular unknown memory that he seemed to be fond of.

"Why not, if you don't mind? Your good, that's for sure." She asked her smile still on her face as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"It wasn't what I wanted to do. It was that simple really. I never felt that I belonged on a battlefield. In all honesty I don't think I would last out there myself." He replied a hint of sadness still in his voice as he talked.

"I guess your uncle didn't like that?"

"No he didn't. He didn't try to stop me though, that was something that I'm always grateful for. He has the mentality that you have to ultimately make your own path in the world. He was disappointed but he was always happy for me, glad that I would stand up for what I want in my life." Kassuq concluded his eyes watery slightly from the memories.

Zyphia slowly put her arms around Kassuq in a comforting hug, her small frame even tinier compared to Kassuq's more muscular body frame.

"He sounds like a great guy." She told him quietly.

"He is." He replied.

A sudden noise went up, causing the pair to break their hug and shift awkwardly at the same time, revealing to be Larik racing up towards them with an urgent look on his face.

"Kassuq! Zyphia! I need to speak to you two." He shouted at them, finally reaching them, speaking whilst swallowing giant gulps of air into his lungs, Bipin sitting beside his friend with an almost happy expression, the wolf being able to run at his own pace in quite a long time.

Both Kassuq and Zyphia quickly noticed the red eyes and the seemingly obvious dark bags under his eyes, revealing how truly exhausted Larik was despite putting on a brave face.

 _The poor guy doesn't look like he's slept at all last night_ Kassuq thought to himself, furrowing his brow in concern for Larik's well being.

"Have you slept at all last night?" Zyphia asked, seemingly coming to the same conclusion.

"Doesn't feel like it if I'm honest." Larik replied with a tired smile and chuckle, his hands on his knees whilst speaking.

"How are you still standing?" Kassuq asks, his mind shifting to that of a healer.

"Determination." Larik replies, gulping in a large blast of air before continuing. "That and caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine."

After a minute or so of silence, Larik spoke again.

"We've got an idea of where Bolin's been held. This event called the 'Revelation' from what we could gather. Korra and Mako are already getting ready for it."

"Wait when is it happening?" Zyphia asked, the sudden burst of information taking her tired mind by surprise.

Larik looks at them for a second, deadly seriousness in his eyes, before replying.

"Tonight."


	22. Chapter 22- The Revelation

"Time to wake up, tough guy."

Larik slowly, with reluctance that is only given through sleep, opened his hazel coloured eyes to the outside world. He had been leaning on the backseat of Kassuq's Satomobile, hunched over himself whilst sleeping, lightly snoring whilst doing so.

The only reason why he was asleep in the first place was due to the rather commanding healer that is Kassuq; not taking no for an answer, proclaiming that Larik looked exhausted and from what he could tell was running on mere fumes, to which the rest of their 'rescue party' agreed with no hesitation whatsoever.

His eyes quickly focused on the petite figure that was directly in front of him, Zyphia looking directly into Larik's eyes with what he could perceive to be an understanding smile.

"How long was I out?" He asked, coughing to get some moisture back into his throat.

"An hour, give or take." She replied simply, helping him out of the Satomobile as she spoke.

"Where is Korra and Mako?" Larik inquired, noting the absence of the Avatar and the annoying teenager.

"They left five minutes. It's our turn to get moving now." Zyphia stated, her mood light but serious at the same time.

"We better get moving then." Larik concluded with a dry chuckle, nodding his head slightly when he catches's sight of Kassuq a few metres ahead to which the water bender acknowledged with a nod of his own.

They started walking then, the three teenagers all in random pieces of clothing, Kassuq and Larik wearing a simple coat to hide their own clothing and Zyphia wearing a short skirt with a coat over it, all coloured in various shades of black and brown.

 _Good thing I left Bipin back at the Satomobile. I don't think we look that convincing in all honesty._

After walking through a number of alleyways, the trio came across the place they needed to be, an abandoned warehouse, large in its size and scope, hidden in the dark with what appeared to be a single door entrance manned by a rather large man on the pudgy side of things.

"This is a private event. No one gets in without an invitation." The doorman answered gruffly, which Larik would think understandable to send away unwanted guests, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"That would be these I presume?" Zyphia quickly replied, her nerves obvious to her friends who were to her either side, handing over the leaflet that had revealed to the group the whereabouts of this event.

After checking over the leaflet to verify its authenticity, the doorman smiled, his entire posture turning friendly as he moved out of their way.

"The Revelation is upon us, my brothers and sister."

The trio quickly moved onward, happy to have avoided confrontation, to see an ever-growing crowd of people already there, all looking up at an empty podium, lit up by dozens of lights.

 _There must be hundreds of them._

Larik then heard someone speaking through a microphone, his excitement plain to see. "Please welcome your hero, your saviour ... Amon!" As he spoke a hatch in the middle of the podium opened up, lights pouring out from it, where a figure rose up with his hands behind his back and dozens of men behind him, a hood covering his head but still showing the mask that signified who he was, the giant red circle on the forehead and golden hints over the otherwise white mask.

 _Amon._

"My quest for equality began many years ago. When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich, and _none of us_ were benders. This made us very easy targets for the fire bender who extorted my father. One day, my father confronted this man, but when he did, that fire bender took my family from me. Then, he took my face. I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since." The Equalist leader begins his voice deep and gruff.

 _There is the motivation then_ Larik thought.

As Amon continued his speech, Larik started to look around his surroundings, noticing the various exits around the warehouse and the large number of masked men guarding them.

 _This is going to be difficult, that's for sure._

"I know you have been wondering, "What _is_ the Revelation?" You are about to get your answer. Since the beginning of time, the spirits have acted as guardians of our world, and they have spoken to me. They say the Avatar has failed humanity. That is why the spirits have chosen me to usher in a new era of balance. They have granted me a power that will make Equality a reality. The power to take a person's bending away."

"Permanently."

A hushed silence fell across the crowd as all simply stared at the Equalist leader in shock, surprise and confusion.

"That's impossible, isn't it?" Zyphia whispered her eyes wide and her voice disbelieving.

"Apparently not, Zyph." Kassuq replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I doubt it folks. Only the Avatar is capable of doing that and we all know who the Avatar is." Larik concluded with a snort.

 _He's bluffing._

A man, his hands tied behind his back, with him wearing what appeared to be very expensive clothing was brought onto the stage.

"Now, for a demonstration. Please welcome, Lightning Bolt Zolt. Leader of the Triple Threat Triad, and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City." Amon states with a slight flourish, the crowd booing the captured crime lord immensely.

It was then that Larik noticed four more prisoners being brought onto the stage, the last of them being Bolin.

 _There he is._

"Zolt has amassed a fortune by extorting and abusing non benders. But his reign of terror is about to come to an end. Now, in the interest of fairness, I will give Zolt the chance to fight to keep his bending." Amon stated, moving to the middle of the stage standing a fair distance away from Zolt.

 _Well, looks like Amon's going to die..._

Zolt, grinning ear to ear at the words, immediately starts to hurl blast after blast at Amon, missing completely as the masked man nimbly dodges out of the way, moving closer and closer to Zolt as he does so until he is right on top of the criminal.

 _... Or not._

Zolt, starting to panic and attempting to end the confrontation, rushes forward whilst spewing out lightning from his hands in the hopes of hitting Amon. Amon however ducks underneath him, grabbing his wrists in the process and deflecting the lightning towards the ceiling. Bringing the criminal to his knees, Amon quickly puts his thumb on Zolt's forehead, the criminal screaming out as his lightning faded to nothing, the lights going out.

Releasing him, Amon takes a few steps forward, ignoring Zolt completely. Zolt, seeing his advantage, attempts to attack the Equalist again.

Except he cannot. For his bending is gone.

"Your fire bending is gone. Forever. The era of bending is over. A new era of Equality has begun!" He shouts out towards the crowd, to which the crowd erupts in cheers and applause.

 _Spirits. This is not good._

Realising that Bolin will lose his bending if they don't do anything for him, Larik nudges Kassuq.

"See those pipes over there?" He whispers.

"You want me to create a fog?" He replies.

"No. Korra is not so discreetly going over there now so I believe she is thinking the same thing. No we are going to get closer." Larik states before moving through the crowd and getting closer to the podium.

"Damnit man." Kassuq mutters to which Zyphia chuckles.

"He's the tough guy, what do you expect?" She states before she too moves closer, Kassuq following after her.

Larik, now at the front of the crowd, waits for the opportunity that Korra will give him, Zyphia and Kassuq only just reaching him as he starts to prepare himself mentally.

 _Wait for it..._

 _Wait for it..._

Just as the pipes start to erupt and plunge the event into chaos in the corner of his eye, Larik had one thought.

 _Now._


	23. Chapter 23- The One-Armed Bender

The fog of steam filled the stadium as soon as the explosions started, rolling over everyone like a tidal wave going over rocks.

Larik jumped up upon the stage as soon as the fog clouded it from the crowd and the Equalist soldiers, crouching low as he went towards the general area that Bolin was in, Zyphia and Kassuq close behind him.

The trio soon came across the form of Mako saving Bolin from an Equalist that had grabbed hold of him from behind, throwing the masked man over his shoulder and away into the steam, running up to them as they kept each other in a loose defensive formation.

"Mako get your brother out of here, there's a door somewhere to the far right of the building. We three will meet you on Air Temple Island." Larik shouted out towards the brothers, running towards the left as he spoke, Kassuq and Zyphia close behind him.

"What about Korra?" Kassuq asked as they ran out of the building and started to make their way towards the parked Satomobile "Am I to believe we're going to leave her behind?"

"Trust me when I say this Kassuq, she'll be fine. If anything it's the Ferret brothers that I would be worried about." Larik replied as they caught sight of the vehicle.

 _There it is._

Quickly getting into the mobile, Kassuq in the driving seat and Larik sitting next to him whilst Zyphia and Bipin sat behind them, Bipin barking when the trio came into view and getting a quick pat on the head by Larik.

"Drive." Larik quickly said, Kassuq nodding as the vehicle roared to life and they started off.

Soon after, the group heard the distinct sound of engines from behind them, looking back to see a group of seven Equalists chasing after them on motorcycles.

Realising that they were losing ground and fast, Larik turned towards Zyphia, saying. "Get rid of them."

Zyphia, smiling as she does so, turns to face the group of Equalists behind them and starts to pepper them with blast after blast of fire, successfully taking down two of the rebels, their bodies skidding over the floor as they get hit.

It continued like this for a short time until a neutral party accidently got involved.

"Pull up!" Larik shouted as he noticed a female figure walking across the road, seemingly oblivious to the battle that was going to hit her with full force.

Kassuq, with all of his might, narrowly dodged the figure that had now noticed the group for obvious reasons, Larik seeing an expression of confusion and surprise radiate on her face as they drove past before his vision became blurred, his head lurching forward violently as they full on hit a massive brick wall in front of them.

"Is everyone alright?" Kassuq asked almost drunkenly, holding his head slightly as the rest of the group answered with a yes, or a bark if Bipin was concerned, all of them slowly getting out of the now broken Satomobile.

Larik, stumbling around slightly as he did so, soon noticed the five Equalist members had surrounded them, all ready to attack on their near helpless opponents.

Larik quickly took out his sword that he had previously left in the Satomobile and out of its sheath, Zyphia and Kassuq groggily getting into some stances and Bipin growly with venomous hatred, the only occupant of the vehicle that seemingly had no ill lasting effects from the crash.

 _This won't end well. We're all too groggy to put up a long fight._

Before any of them could do something, however, a voice called out to them, smooth and fluid yet cold in tone.

"I suggest you step away from them if you know what's good for you." The voice cried, revealing itself to be the woman that they had narrowly missed hitting, standing with her back straight and only a mere few metres away from the closest Equalist.

The female was the tallest that Larik had ever seen, far taller than both he and Zyphia and possibly even taller than Kassuq. She had pale skin, yet for some reason seemed to have numerous levels of dirt on them, with dark brown eyes that even from his distance seemed to scream an intense ferocity. She also had long black hair that was in a somewhat worn out braid that spiralled down to hang down her back.

She wore what Larik could tell to be very much worn out clothes, with both her long sleeved shirt of many shades of green and brown and dark bottoms having various small little holes and cuts along the edges. The thing that jumped out towards Larik was the fact that whilst one her arms had a long sleeve over it the other arm did not. In fact there was no right arm there to begin with.

 _She only has one arm._

"Run along, this isn't any of your concern." The Equalist closest to her states, turning towards her as he speaks.

"It became my concern when you nearly force a car to drive over my body." She coldly replies, giving him a stare that even the most evil of spirits would tremble upon.

Before the Equalist could respond a massive square foot of earth springs from the floor and directly hits him in the chest, making him fly over the other Equalists as the foot of earth carries him into the sky and soon out of sight.

All was chaos then as the other Equalists attack her from all sides, the girl holding her own as her legs and one arm kick out and send massive pillars of earth from the ground to defend her.

However the numbers game soon became apparent as, after taking out two of the Equalists with pillars of earth, one of the Equalists tackles her on her right side where she couldn't defend herself from, the other one swarming over her as she is pushed to the ground, kicking her in every place possible.

Breaking his spell of inability, Larik rushes over and with his sword slashes the left side of an Equalist, eliciting a scream in the process as she reared her head back in pain, before performing a roundhouse kick on her, sending her to ground out cold.

The last Equalist, after seeing this and realising he's the only one left, tries to flee from them before getting stopped by a large wall of fire, courtesy of Zyphia, and turning round quick enough to see a large blob of water slam him into the wall before freezing over into solid ice, holding him there as he slouched into unconsciousness.

Larik begins to speak down towards the mysterious girl, a smile on his face as adrenaline slowly starts to leave his body, before realising that the earth bender had fallen unconscious herself due to a number of powerful blows to the head.

Seeing as how all of the Equalists had been taken care of, Larik instantly picks the girl up and holds her over his shoulder; her head slouched over it, before taking off down one of the alleyways with Bipin, Zyphia and Kassuq following right behind him.

Larik left the warehouse with more questions than answers but at this point only one was circling over and over through his head.

 _Who in spirits name are you, my dear?_


	24. Chapter 24- Introductions

_Not going to lie, this is incredibly boring._

That was the one thought that was currently going through Larik's mind as he flipped a page in the book he was reading, _Toph Beifong's guide to metal bending,_ bewildered by the circumstances that brought their guest to the temple.

Their 'guest' was currently sleeping in one of the temples spare bedroom, Larik sitting next to her bed, her skin completely clean and having been changed into white clothing, Pema taking worryingly extreme glee at getting rid of the mysterious girls worn out and tacky clothes.  
The only plus side of all of this waiting was that Larik finally had found time to go over everything that had happened over the past few days ever since he and Korra had arrived in the city.

He was worried, spirits he was scared. This whole ordeal whilst not showing it had rattled him to the core. He couldn't get to sleep at first when they had returned from the Equalist rally due to the worry that this problem was creating within him and due to the shaking of his hands that the ordeal had caused.

 _A man like Amon will never stop_ He realised with dread. _First he will want the city, then the country and then the entire world. He will never stop._

Then came the group of people that both he and Korra had 'befriended'. Well Larik wasn't too sure if 'befriended' was the right word for all of them.

Zyphia though slightly energetic and annoying was trustworthy, that fact was proven when she without hesitation agreed to help find Bolin. Kassuq was for now a complete unknown to Larik, who wasn't sure in all honesty why he had helped in the search of Bolin in the first place, he was calm and polite but slightly cold towards them yet Larik could see that he was an honourable man if anything and hoped that it was enough. Bolin was the only one that Larik was certain could be trusted. He was a completely open book, him being kind and supportive proving that for a fact.

His brother on the other hand... not so much.

Larik sighed to himself when he thought of Mako. In all simplicity he just did not like the man; he was harsh, cold and rude for a start among other things. Some would say that his attitude was due to his time in the streets (Korra felt it was important to point that out to him) yet Bolin's attitude proved that he didn't need to be such a well ... bastard at times.

A yawn quickly knocked Larik out of his thoughts as he put his book to the side to see the previously sleeping girl sitting up on the bed, her face conveying an obvious sense of confusion as she studied her surroundings.

"Stay calm, Miss, everything's alright." Larik says, standing up as he spoke, attempting to keep her from doing anything drastic. "You're on Air Temple Island."

"Who are you?" She replied after a brief period of silence, her voice and entire demeanour conveying a sense of coldness that irritated Larik slightly.

"Larik... And the guy that saved your ass last night, just saying." He states, partly trying to get a 'thank you' from the girl.

Instead of getting the thank you that Larik was hoping for, the girl instead loudly mumbles to herself "I could have taken care of it myself."

Larik laughs, disbelief clear in his tone. "Yeah because you getting knocked unconscious was all part of an amazing plan."

The girl, an annoyed look on her face, suddenly turns back towards him. "I wouldn't have even been involved in whatever the spirits was going on between you and those freaks in masks if you hadn't of nearly run me over, wise guy."

Larik, now fuming, shouts out at her. "Then why didn't you attack us then, huh? If we so obviously caused you such stress."

"Because you needed help or have you forgotten that without me you and your two friends would have been toast." She shouted back, moving towards Larik so now they were face to face, Larik needing to look up slightly due to the height difference.

Before he could reply, the black haired titan of a woman suddenly doubles over in pain, clutching the left side of her stomach as Larik suddenly holds her up by her side, gently placing her back on the bed, his anger whilst still there was now at the back of his mind as he prioritised her health over his anger.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asks.

"Ah no, just hungry. I haven't ... eaten for a while now." She replies, inciting a laugh from Larik as she spoke.

"Alright then I'll get you some food. You just stay here for now." He states as he heads towards the door, stopping to turn back towards the girl.

"Umm... what's your name?"

A brief pause before she replies with a weary smile. "The names Jaya."

Larik simply nods before heading out of sight, sighing to himself as he does so.


	25. Chapter 25- Breakfast is Served

"So how is she?" Kassuq asked as he took a bite from his rice, both he and Zyphia looking up from where they were seated as Larik sat down with a sigh.

"Alright now, just got her breakfast, the poor girl was obviously malnourished if her nearly plummeting to the ground is anything to go by." Larik replied with a small chuckle before stopping himself, berating himself mentally that this was no laughing matter.

"What's her name?" Zyphia asked, her face stuffed with so many noodles that there were several stray strands hanging out of her mouth as she spoke, eliciting a chuckle from her male counterparts at her rather comical appearance.

"What?" She asked both innocently and curiously, making her friends laugh even more so at her obliviousness.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Larik replied, stiffly another chuckle as he spoke. "Her name's Jaya and just saying from experience but she has quite the temper."

"Oh do I now?" A slightly amused voice called out from behind, revealing herself to be Jaya in traditional air bender clothes that seemed slightly small for her size, a single raised eyebrow and a sly smirk on her face.

"Uh no, no that's not what I said umm... I uh said what a... big temple this is. Yes that's what I said yeah." He hastily replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he spoke, earning amused glances from Kassuq and Zyphia.

 _I've never seen him do that before._ Zyphia thought with large smile.

 _Oh this is embarrassing._ Kassuq thought to himself with a slight grimace, cringing slightly at Larik's attempt at lying.

"Relax Larik, its fine really. I've been told before about my... temper." Jaya replied with a sad smile on her face, looking down slightly as she spoke, before looking back up with a glint in her eye.

"Just make sure you don't mention it again." She said jokingly, earning a nervous smile from Larik as Korra walked in with a huff.

"Hey everybody! Don't mind me just getting a drink I can't talk for too long as I need to get back 'practising'." She states as she tries to find something to pour water in, finally noticing a wooden cup near Jaya.

"Uh could you pass me that? My names Korra if you're wondering." She asks.

"Hmm? Oh sure, give me a sec. My names Jaya. " Jaya replies as she looks around to see the cup next to her, having to turn her body around for her left arm to reach it, fully revealing her missing limb to Korra who shocked at the sight.

"Uh you sure you're alright? It's no problem if you're not." Korra asks worriedly.

Picking the cup as Korra spoke, Jaya visibly grows annoyed at her comment, realising that the reason for Korra's worry is how Jaya doesn't have an arm.

"What, because I'm missing an arm?" Trust me I can manage without it." She replies irritably before throwing the cup into the air, Korra just barely managing to catch it.

"Uh okay sure, no problem."Korra quickly says, realising that she had annoyed this person. "See you later Larik, I gotta do some more Avatar training." With that, Korra walks away with a now full cup, her comment immediately making Jaya look at her in surprise.

"Wait what? Avatar?" She asks with wide disbelieving eyes.

Zyphia quickly runs up to Jaya and holds her arm close to, directing her out of the doorway.

"Don't worry, I'll explain as we get outta here. Now as your clothes aren't exactly form fitting, let's get you some new clothes hmm? I've earned some money and now it's time to get spending!" Zyphia explains with a grin, dragging Jaya out of the room, the earth bender looking back towards Larik with a completely confused look.

"Uh... did that just happen?" Larik asked, slightly baffled by the quick chain of events.

"Yes it did my friend." Kassuq replied, sipping his tea with a small smirk. "I don't know about you but I think that went rather well.

"And that's because...?" Larik asked, clearly asking him to elaborate.

"She didn't attack us all on sight." Kassuq states as if it were so simple.

"And she would do that because?"

"We DID nearly run her over last night."

"Ah yeah that's a good point." Larik replied with a chuckle.

 _She's certainly interesting, I'll give her that._


	26. Chapter 26- Fears and Worries

"Keep your legs further apart Korra. NO YOUR LEFT ONE! NOT THE RIGHT!"

A sigh escaped the tired face of Larik, his brown face falling down to hide his face as he shook his head in a clear sign of frustration before pushing it back with his left hand.

He was holding his 'tome' in his other hand, his elbow resting on his knee as he was sitting on one of the benches that was outside of the temple, on a page that depicted several stances commonly used by the near extinct air benders.

"I am trying you know." Korra calls back towards him, her face a mixture of frustration and fatigue. The two of them had been going at this for hours now and the sky had started to go dark with the passing of time.

"Well I suggest you try harder then otherwise we'll be here all night." Larik replies bitterly, his tired mind getting more and more impatient with Korra's inability to understand a simple set of instructions.

Well, simple for him anyway.

Larik would be the first one to say that he is human just like the rest of his friends but he does possess the ability to stay calm for a long period of time in comparison. That being said though even some things could get under his skin, like now.

He briefly caught sight of Zyphia and Kassuq walking together, the three friends waving towards each other before Larik lost sight of them. He had started to notice that they did these walks regularly, whether to talk or not he didn't know but it was... odd.

Returning his attention back to Korra he was about to shout out another flaw in her stance before the soothing cheerful music that had previously been playing in the yard had abruptly stopped in the middle of its chorus, catching his attention.

A quick glance at Korra told him that she had noticed it too, though she still attempted to work on her stance even though her mind was elsewhere.

The static that had replaced the song faded out as a gravelly deep voice started to speak, his familiar vocals telling the two friends who was speaking.

"Good evening my fellow Equalists. This is your leader, Amon." The voice begins, confirming Larik's suspicions. Korra now had dropped her stance as soon as the name Amon had been said.

"As you have heard, the Republic council has voted to making me public enemy number one, proving once again that the bending oppressors of the city will stop at nothing to quash our revolution. " The Equalist continued.

Sweat started to drip from Larik's face, even though he hadn't moved from his spot in the last hour, the tension of Amon's 'speech' holding him completely.

"But we cannot be stopped. Our numbers grow stronger by the day. You no longer have to live in fear."

Larik turned his head to notice that there was an odd expression on Korra's face; something that he did not recognise yet seemed familiar to him.

She was looking directly at the radio, to the point that you would think that the object would explode from the intensity of the stare.

 _Something is definitely not right here._

Amon finished his statement with a sentence that implied a great many things.

"The time has come for the benders to experience fear."

Static returned, indicating the end of the Equalists speech, and Korra sighed slightly forgetting that Larik was watching her. Her face contorted into the much more familiar 'determined/stubborn' look and walked inside, mumbling that she was just getting a drink.

"I see that you heard the announcement as well." The voice of Tenzin states randomly, Larik jumping up from his seat slightly as the tall frame of Tenzin appeared beside him.

"Uh... yeah, we heard... Korra's gone to get a drink if you're looking for her Tenzin." He says respectfully.

"I came to talk to you, Larik. Have you noticed that Korra seems odd today?" He asks, stroking his beard thoughtfully as he stood beside the teenager, refusing an offered seat as he got closer.

"Well now that you've mentioned it yes, yes I have. She seems a lot more frustrated than usual." Larik replies, surprised at how he had only now just realised that fact.

"Do you know why?"

"No I'm afraid. My first thought would have been due to Korra being unable to do this particular bend but now I'm not too sure." Larik states with a shake of the head.

"Hmm... Alright then. Keep an eye on her Larik; she may need some support in the days to come." Tenzin concludes, heading back in, as he spoke.

After he had left, Larik started to think about what he could do to help Korra.

 _Better to leave her alone for now. I f she needs me, she knows where to look._

And with that thought, Larik stands up to go inside, deciding that they had trained more than enough for the day.


End file.
